Hollyhock. 301 



exotic plants that are so eagerly sought after, show that they 

 are 



Bourne from their native genial airs away, 

 That scarcely can their tender bud display. 



The tall Hollyhock is not adapted for the small parterre, — 

 its aspiring height befits it for a noble situation, and it rises 

 with a degree of dignity from amongst clumps of flowering 

 shrubs, that is not excelled by any plant whatever. But to 

 give full effect to this flower, they should be planted in clumps 

 of from five to ten plants, according to the size of the grounds ; 

 and each of these clumps should be formed of one color, con- 

 triving to have a clump of the darkest colored flowers between 

 two plantations of the paler colors. Where the grounds are 

 veiy extensive, clumps of mixed varieties may be admitted, 

 but these never tell so well in the perspective as a mass of a 

 single color. It adds considerably to their beauty when they 

 are so placed as to appear emerging from among dwarf shrubs, 

 where the lower part of the stalks are obscured, care however 

 should be taken not to plant them too near each other, as every 

 stem of flowers should be seen distinct, and when they require 

 support, they should each have a separate stake, for when 

 several are pressed together, the flowers have not room to dis- 

 play their beauty, and they take a stiff and unnatural appear- 

 ance, instead of that careless freedom which constitutes the 

 beauty of all plants. Yet in this wild disorder art presides 



Designs, corrects, and regulates the whole, 

 Herself the while unseen. 



Mason. 



The vulgar planter who has no idea of the beauty of per- 

 spective gardening, frequently plants his Hollyhocks in rows ; 

 this is one of the errors never seen in Nature, and has as bad 

 an effect in the garden, as a straight line of Lombardy Poplars 

 in a plantation, or a long rank of soldiers painted in a land- 

 scape picture. It may be planted so as to ornament the bounds 

 of gardens, by forming clumps at the angles, and at irregular 

 distances near the fence, so that they do not form a straight 

 line, for such an arrangement would only make the limits of 



