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MY GARDEN. 



A very showy flower, the Peony (fig. 460), blossoms at the end 

 of May. There are many varieties ; they are more remarkable for 



their size than for their beauty. I have had 

 various plants, but never have been satisfied 

 with any of them. There are many fine 

 kinds which will hardly flower in our climate. 

 The Chinese and Japanese are reputed to 

 possess endless varieties of these flowers. 



The Gunnera scabra is a remarkable 

 plant, with ornamental leaves somewhat re- 

 sembling those of rhubarb. It likes a moist 

 situation, and it requires protection from 

 Fig. 460.— Peony. severe frost. 



" O perennial flowers. 

 In single breath your odours manifold 

 Breathe now." — Dante, Paradise. 



BEDDING PLANTS. 



For summer garden decoration we have recourse to what are termed 

 Bedding Plants. These are at once the blessing and the curse of 

 a garden. They are a blessing, as they give to geometric flower-beds 

 a display of thousands of brilliant flowers for four months in the year, 

 and the plants themselves are regular in their growth. Nevertheless 

 they are a curse, as they are so easily grown that they have gradually 

 .superseded all those plants which our forefathers used to cultivate and 

 admire. I have seen flower-beds under the drawing-room window of a 

 mansion where numerous gardeners were kept, without one plant to 

 adorn the vacant ground till the end of May, the whole decoration being 

 confined to summer, and centred in a few kinds of bedding plants, 

 in some whimsical ornamental arrangements of colours. At the present 

 time all gardens look alike; the inevitable gaudy Scarlet Geranium 

 flourishes to the exclusion of hundreds of little gems which should 

 have their place in the garden of every lover of natural objects ; and, 



