THE FLOWER GARDEN. 



101 



meet this objection, and if put into practice would 

 prove a complete remedy. 



The last objection is that of the labour and house- 

 room required to propagate and house the plants. 

 This is the most valid objection of all, and relief can 

 only be found by freer adoption of the plan named 

 to meet the fii-st objection, viz., increasing our use of 

 hardy plants. A great advance is being made in 

 this direction, and if it is still pushed on, summer 

 bedding will ultimately be just as economically done 

 as any other description of flower gardening. Even 

 if it were not, however, so long as it is appreciated 

 as it is at present, that appreciation is justification 

 sufficient for its continuance. 



Appropriateness. — Summer bedding is adapt- 

 able to any position where flowers are wished to be 

 grown, yet is always most pleasing in a garden of 

 formal design, the reason of this doubtless being, 

 that for the most part the plants used are dwarf 

 growers, of uniform habit and evenness of outline. 

 Developing the same characteristics, they thus har- 

 monise with the regularity and imiformity of the 

 formal parterre ; and here it may be remarked that, 

 much as lovers of " hardy" flowers insist that their 

 pets are just as well suited for this kind of garden 

 as are ordinary bedding plants, we cannot accept an 

 opinion so at variance with experience. They lack 

 that evenness of outline, or balance of vegetation 

 and colouring, which should characterise a garden of 

 formal design. Hardy herbaceous plants, much as 

 they may be supplemented with evergreen varieties, 

 and suitable kinds of shrubs, are so irregular in their 

 season of flowering, height, and general character, 

 that they cannot be relied on to produce these 

 effects. So long, therefore, as geometrically designed 

 gardens exist, just so long will it be in good taste to 

 furnish the same with plants that are at least amen- 

 able to something approaching uaiiformity in general 

 appearance, and more especially so in regard to con- 

 tinuity and season of flowering. 



Other appropriate places than a geometrical par- 

 terre are, each side of straight walks ; or on a rising 

 piece of ground that can be seen from the walks ; or 

 the opposite of this, a low and concealed part of the 

 gi^ounds, where the garden cannot be seen till 

 reached, and then to be viewed from an elevated 

 point. This latter sort of arrangement may be 

 called a surprise garden ; at the first sight of which 

 the most cynical critic of bedding-out would be lost 

 in admiration. 



Colour.— In this respect tastes vary greatly, but 

 there can be no doubt that the " quieter " the beds 

 are, the more lasting and pleasing is the effect. The 

 everlasting repetition of scarlet, yellow, and blue, 



which one occasionally sees, is so gaudy— not to say 

 vulgar — that there is no wonder if, when such a 

 sample is quoted as an average one of summer bed- 

 ding, everybody possessed of the least good taste 

 should repudiate the system. But then it is not an 

 average sample, and happily the little there is, grows 

 less and less every year. The colours which produce 

 satisfjdng effects for the longest period are greys, 

 blues, pinks, violets, and whites. Not that we would 

 disparage high colours, such as scarlet and yellow ; 

 but, if we may use the term, these colours so over- 

 power all others, that they should be used in less 

 proportion and as centres, by reason of theii- superior 

 vividness or weight. 



We shall best make plain our meaning as to what 

 is meant by the latter term "weight," as applied to 

 colour, and what by that of " quietness," by saying 

 that the two primary rules which a good flower gar- 

 dener follows are designated Contrast and Harmony. 

 Supposing a bed to be arranged after the first-named 

 rule, it might be as follows : — scarlet, white, blue, 

 orange ; or again, bronzy-black, yellow, violet, green ; 

 and so on thi'oughout all intermediate colours. Thus 

 it will be seen that the rule of " contrast " is simple 

 in the extreme, so far as concerns the selection of 

 colours. Proportion, however, is not quite so readily 

 determined, and it is very difficult to give any precise 

 direction how it should be arranged, excepting to say 

 that to avoid loe'ightiness — or excessively high colour- 

 ing — the lighter colours should predominate in the 

 proportion of about three to two. 



Harmony of colouring is usually the most satis- 

 fying. The term means — if one may so express it — 

 the insensible blending of one colour with another, 

 or what may be expressed as the gentle leading vp of 

 one colour to another. To give an example : we 

 begin with, white, then salmon, or light pink, dark 

 pink, rose, light red, scarlet ; thus making a transi- 

 tion from white to deep scarlet ; which to write it 

 seems as violent, as it really is imperceptible and 

 pleasing when practically tested. 



Those blessed vdth a keenness of perception for 

 coloiu- will not need such aids ; but any who mistrust 

 their ability in this direction should get a box of 

 variously-coloured wafers, and spread them out in 

 a strong light, till they get the colours arranged in 

 such a way as best suits their taste. The veriest 

 novice may with confidence resort to this simple 

 expedient, in full assui'ance that he will be rewarded 

 for his pains. 



This much as to colour in detail ; now as to the 

 colour' of the ivhole, that is, of the whole garden. 

 Every bed, border, and vase should be arranged fi-om 

 this standpoint ; for no matter how beautiful one bed 

 or series of beds may be, if an adjoining set does not 

 harmonise with them, there will be (to the educated 



