The Mixed Garden 



flowering ; and the greenhouse plants then be- 

 come most valuable. Geraniums, begonias, helio- 

 tropes, calceolarias, verbenas, etc., fill up blanks 

 in the most satisfactory way, and most of them 

 having very small roots can, with a little care and 

 much watering, be transplanted to where they are 

 wanted all through the summer ; begonias especi- 

 ally are most kind and patient under such treat- 

 ment, and can be removed from one place to 

 another with very little difficulty. Annuals are 

 equally useful for the same purpose, and many 

 of them are very beautiful, but they are not so 

 patient under removal. 



But I can best illustrate my meaning by giving 

 an example ; and I will give it from my own 

 garden, not boastfully because mine is better than 

 others of the same sort (I have seen many that 

 far surpass my own), but because I can write 

 more correctly from the example close before me. 

 I am fortunate in having a long wall facing south, 

 and I am fortunate in having a good alluvial soil, 

 though too full of lime to allow me to grow many 

 plants which otherwise I should like to grow. 

 In front of this wall I have a border about eight 

 feet wide, edged with rough stones placed on, and 

 not sunk in, the ground. I will take about a 

 dozen or fifteen yards, which I suppose to be 

 about the length of the front borders in most of 

 the detached suburban villas. In this distance 

 trained to the wall I have Plagianthus lyalli, 

 from New Zealand ; Fremontia Californica ; 



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