102 



CASSELLSS POPULAR GARDENIXG. 



colourist) vexation of spirit for tlie wlxole season. 

 There is nothing like bujdng one's experience dearly 

 to make us more cautious about f utui-e f ailui-es ; and 

 ha^ing■ had thus to buy more than once, the fol- 

 lowing rule is the result : — Give no special prominence 

 to any one colour-; or, in other words, the various 

 colours must be so dispersed over the whole garden, 

 that 'if asked to decide which was the prevalent 

 one we could not easily do so. The endeavoui- to 

 carry out such a rule wiU , of itself prevent any 

 abruptness of colouring, and eventually perseve- 

 rance will be rewarded by the realisation of the ideal. 



Arrangements. — The arrange- 



ECALE OF FEET 



Plans and 



ments of indi- 

 \'idual beds, as 

 being likely to 

 be of most ser- 

 vice to the 

 general reader, 

 will here be 

 treated of ; and 

 if the rule of 

 no prominence 

 be kept upper- 

 most, it will be 

 imnecessary to 

 say anything 

 further in re- 

 spect of the 

 more general 

 arrangement of 

 the above, ex- 

 cept that all 

 geometrical 

 patterns should 

 have their 

 counterparts 

 planted in ex- 

 actly the same way, and there should be no cross-corner 

 arrangements, such as some people seem to have a 

 special affection for, but which surely cannot be real, 

 and must be only occasional freaks of eccentricity. 



Till recently it was the general practice in all ar- 

 rangements of summer bedding plants, to have no 

 standard, or what we should now call seiitincl plants, 

 to break the siu-face-outline of pelargoniums and 

 other similar dwarf plants. This notion of arrange- 

 ment is totally at variance with good taste, or the 

 charm w^hich is always, and with truth, said to ac- 

 company vaiiety ; and yet the practice of so breaking 

 the sm-face is, even now, an\i;hing but as general 

 as it ought to be. The prominence given to such 

 leading plants in the following arrangements will 

 show that we, at any rate, do not consider the point 

 a matter of little moment, but rather one which, 



whilst it insures variety, produces a tone of refine- 

 ment throughout the whole, and effectively disposes 

 of gaudiness and monotony of outline ; whilst it is 

 just as suitable for application to the most severe 

 geometrical pattern as for the plainest sjTnmetrical 

 one. 



It is also necessary to observe that the arrange- 

 ments shown are made with a view of lasting for the 

 longest possible period, independently of the weather ; 

 on this account many plants are set down here as 

 summer bedders, which are not generally recognised 

 as belonging to that order ; but it may be as well to 

 say that none are enumerated except such as have 

 been practically tested as being in e^-ery particrdar 



good compa- 

 nions for bed- 



(iiiig plants 



16 generally. 



Fig. 1. — 1, Box edging ; 2, ground-work of Herniaria glabra ; 3, Echeveria secunda 

 glaiica (slightly raised) ; 4, Alternanthera parouychioides ; 5, Mesembryan- 

 themum cordifolium variegatum ; 6, large plant of Ecbeveria metallica, alter- 

 nating in otber beds with E. glauca metallica; 7, Sempervivum Calif omicum 

 (slightly raised); 8, Sedum acre elegans; 9, Ketinispora phimosa (about 18 

 inches high) ; 10, Sedum glaucum ; 11, Cupressus Lawsonii erecta veridis 

 (about 18 inches high) ; 12, band of Pyrethrum— Golden Feather ; 13, Lobelia, 

 dark blue, and light blue Viola (alternated) ; 14, Pelargonium Mauglesii varie- 

 gata and Sophia Dumaresqne (alternated); 15, yellow Mareuentes (Chrysan- 

 themum Koi d'Or) and Blue Marguerites (Agathea cselestis) ; 16, single 

 Dahlias in several colours, tied in spreading fashion to hedge; 17; hedge of 

 Cupressus Lawsonii (5 feet high). 



Design 

 Fig. 1 is given 

 as being a fair 

 illustration 

 both of the 

 value of sen- 

 tinel, standard, 

 or " dot " 

 plants, and a 

 long season 

 of effectiveness 

 from a free 

 use of hardy 

 plants, more 

 especially in 

 the front parts 

 of the design. 

 These are so 

 arranged that 

 when the ten- 

 der plants have succumbed to fi'ost, the border 

 still presents a fui-nished effect, only partially per- 

 haps, but still suflScient to render it an object of 

 beauty the whole winter thi-ough. The winter 

 effect can easily be made still more beautiful, by 

 planting " dot " plants (say small Heaths) in 

 No. 6, and after clearing away the ILc&emhryan- 

 tlicmum and Alternanthera in Nos. 4 and 5, sur- 

 facing the ground with cocoa-fibre refuse, or better 

 still, lapng down flakes of Sedum glaucum, or 

 in fact of any other variety. We have also used 

 with excellent effect smooth tiu-ves of heather cut 

 from a common — that which has been bitten down 

 closely by rabbits is the best. The small shrubs 

 in Nos. 9 and 11 root in such a thick fibrous 

 manner that they can with safety be moved at any 

 season, or twice or thiice in the season, if required ; 



