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CHAPTER X. 



SUBTROPICAL PLANTS FOR THE FLOWER GARDEN. 



The term subtropical is popularly given to flower- 

 gardens embellished by plants having large and hand- 

 some leaves, noble habit or graceful outlines. It simply 

 means the introduction of a rich and varied vegeta- 

 tion, chiefly distinguished by beauty of form, to the 

 ordinarily flat and monotonous surface of the garden. 

 The system had its origin in Paris, where it was first 

 carried out on a small scale around the old Tour St. Jacques, 

 and is now adopted to a greater extent there than anywhere 

 else. Indeed, the presence of great numbers of fine-leaved 

 plants is one of the most marked features in the parks and 

 public gardens of that city. Mr. Gibson, the able and 

 energetic superintendent of Battersea Park, undaunted by 

 the popular nonsense about the great superiority of the 

 climate of Paris over that of London, boldly tried the 

 system, and with what a result all know who have seen his 

 charming " subtropical garden " in Battersea Park. 



This system has taught us the value of grace and ver- 

 dure amid masses of low, brilliant, and unrelieved flowers, 

 or rather has reminded us of how far we have diverged 

 from Nature's ways of displaying the beauty of vegetation. 

 Previous to the inauguration of this movement in Eng- 

 land, our love for rude colour had led us to ignore the ex- 

 quisite and inexhaustible way in which plants are naturally 

 arranged — fern, flower, grass, shrub, and tree, sheltering, 

 supporting, and relieving each other. We cannot attempt 

 to reproduce this literally, nor would it be wise or con- 

 venient to do so ; but assuredly herein will be found the 

 source of true beauty in the plant world, and the more the 

 ornamental gardener keeps the fact before his eyes, the 



