THE BEDDING FASHION 265 



is absolutely in place, and brilliantly-beautiful pictures 

 can be made by a wise choice of colouring. I once 

 saw, and can never forget, a bedded garden that was 

 a perfectly satisfying example of colour-harmony ; but 

 then it was planned by the master, a man of the most 

 refined taste, and not by the gardener. It was a 

 parterre that formed part of the garden in one of the 

 fine old places in the Midland counties. I have no 

 distinct recollection of the design, except that there 

 was some principle of fan-shaped radiation, of which 

 each extreme angle formed one centre. The whole 

 garden was treated in one harmonious colouring of 

 full yellow, orange, and orange-brown ; half-hardy an- 

 nuals, such as French and African Marigolds, Zinnias, 

 and Nasturtiums, being freely used. It was the most 

 noble treatment of one limited range of colouring I 

 have ever seen in a garden ; brilliant without being 

 garish, and sumptuously gorgeous without the reproach 

 of gaudiness — a precious lesson in temperance and 

 restraint in the use of the one colour, and an admirable 

 exposition of its powerful effect in the hands of a true 

 artist. 



I think that in many smaller gardens a certain 

 amount of bedding may be actually desirable ; for 

 where the owner of a garden has a special liking for 

 certain classes or mixtures of plants, or wishes to grow 

 them thoroughly well and enjoy them individually to 

 the full, he wUl naturally grow them in separate beds, 

 or may intentionally combine the beds, if he will, into 



