7 A THE BOOK OF TOPIARY 
examples of Topiary work in England. There are some 
varieties of bedding plants that are far more effective 
than others when planted among yews, and among the 
most suitable, there is nothing that has more effect than 
the brilliant scarlet Lobelia cardinalis and its varieties. 
Some objection may perhaps be taken to the plant by 
some people, but when planted in large masses among 
the sombre yews in a Topiary garden, I have not the 
slightest hesitation in saying it has no equal: when 
growing in large masses with a background of green 
yew and the sun shining on the dark foliage and brilliant 
scarlet flowers, the effect is really beautiful. Perhaps 
the only drawback to the various varieties of Lobelia 
cardinalis is the dificulty experienced by some in keeping 
it over winter; but if instead of following the old system 
of partly drying it off in winter, directly it is lifted out of 
the beds, one places it in a frame or greenhouse with a 
gentle heat and gives it a fair amount of water, thus 
encouraging it to start into growth at once, the difficulty 
will to a very great extent be done away with. Another 
favourite plant here, and one that is greatly used for 
bedding out purposes in the Topiary garden, is the 
beautiful old-fashioned plant Salvia patens. Like the 
scarlet lobelias, Salvia patens should be largely grown in 
every garden where there area lot of yews. The 
brilliant blue of the flowers against the dark green of 
the yew trees has a very striking effect indeed, either 
when planted in masses by itself or mixed in the beds 
along with the scarlet lobelia or the tall yellow 
Calceolarias amplexicaulis. But the foliage of the Salvia 
patens has not the same showy appearance as that of the 
Lobelia cardinalis, but this is a point that can be over- 
looked, as the brilliant blue of the flowers fully com- 
pensates one for the lack of beauty in the plant, and it 
rarely happens among the general stock of bedding 
plants that one can find plants with foliage and flowers 
