THE PARTERRE GARDEN. 



819 



March, and April ; E. herbacea and carnea 

 from January to April ; Primula vulgaris and 

 its varieties from March to May ; P. auricula 

 in April and May ; P. marginata, March and 

 April, as well as several of the Swiss species ; 

 the beautiful species of Soldanella and Cycla- 

 men from February till April ; and of Phloxes, 

 divericata, subulata, setacea, nivalis, crassifolia, 

 verna ; many of the genus Narcissus from 

 March to May ; Galanthus nivalis, Leucojum 

 vernum, pulchellum, trichophyllum, from Jan- 

 uary to April ; Tulipa sylvestris, repens, attiaca, 

 biflora, occulus-solis; the varieties of Gesneriana, 

 prsecox, and others; many species of Fritillaria, 

 from March to May ; Tritoma during the win- 

 ter ; Erythronium, all the species ; Bulbicodium 

 vernum and Gagea lutea, March and April ; 

 many species of Ornithogalum, and also of Scilla, 

 Muscaria, and Hyacinthus, from March to May ; 

 several of the genus Berberis, and most of the 

 genus Helleborus, flower during the winter, as 

 do also Eryanthus hyemalis and Sibericus ; 

 the whole genus and varieties of Hepatica, 

 most of Anemone, &c. From such a list there 

 can be no great difficulty in furnishing the par- 

 terre garden from the season when the flower- 

 ing of its summer tenants is past, until the 

 period arrives in spring when they may be again 

 planted with safety. They do not, however, 

 produce such an amount of colour as to warrant 

 their being planted in the grouping manner. 

 They are better adapted to the mixed style : 

 and here probably the taste of many may accord 

 with our own, that this change in arrangement 

 may be equally consistent with good taste ; but, 

 at all events, it produces a pleasing variety, re- 

 lieving the eye and the mind from dwelling on 

 the monotony and dazzling effects of masses of 

 intense colour which the summer arrangement 

 invariably produces. 



Notwithstanding the facility by which a 

 winter and spring display may be effected, it is 

 strange enough that we so seldom see it even 

 attempted, and this more especially where the 

 flower-garden is placed in connection with the 

 mansion, and where the proprietor spends the 

 winter in the country. The plants we have 

 enumerated are neither difficult to procure nor 

 to transplant. All that is required is a good 

 reserve-garden for their propagation and growth, 

 and sufficient industry to remove them at the 

 proper season. Some of them, such as bulbs, 

 may remain in the parterre for two or three years 

 without removal, and as they die down before 

 the time of sowing or planting arrives, if the 

 borders are top-dressed with a little fresh soil, 

 seeds, for example, of annuals, may be sown over 

 them ; and when these are removed in autumn, 

 the bulbs will be again starting into growth. 

 Again, bulbs may be planted with very good 

 effect along the margins of the beds in lines 

 within 3 or 4 inches of the edging, which will 

 secure them from being disturbed when the 

 planting season arrives. In small beds in- 

 tended to be sown with annuals in spring, the 

 whole bed may be planted with bulbs, plac- 

 ing the taller-growing sorts, such as Narcissus, 

 in the centre, dwarf tulips next, and the lower 

 ones, such as Crocus, towards the sides. Here, 



with the varieties of colours, a considerable 

 effect may be produced. With the variety of 

 shades in crocuses, if attention be paid to their 

 arrangement, a very pretty bed may be pro- 

 duced. All small beds may be planted thickly 

 with bulbs, to be afterwards sown with annuals, 

 or such small - growing plants as the dwarf 

 Lobelias, Anagallis, &c. As their roots are small, 

 they can be readily introduced amongst the 

 bulbs without injury to them ; and as these, 

 when their season is past, are pulled up, the 

 bulbs will remain undisturbed. In the case of 

 larger beds, intended for scarlet geraniums, 

 yellow calceolarias, salvias, &c, which are 

 grown to some size before turning out, and 

 having considerable balls, these should follow 

 where winter - flowering or evergreen shrubs 

 have been planted, or where such plants as 

 hepaticas and hellebores have been grown dur- 

 ing the winter and spring ; and even in cases 

 where the summer-flowering plants are pretty 

 large, and not set within a foot or more of the 

 sides, one or two rows of bulbs may be planted, 

 and allowed to remain. In the parterre garden 

 all tall straggling plants, and such as have 

 large foliage, should be rejected ; for unless the 

 beds are very large or broad, no plant exceeding 

 24 feet should be admitted. In the mixed style 

 of planting the case is otherwise ; still tall coarse- 

 growing plants will never produce the same 

 pleasing effect as those of moderate growth 

 and abundance of bloom. One of the greatest 

 errors committed in planting flower-gardens, 

 in whatever style, is the employment of too 

 many species and varieties, because, where 

 this is carried to the extreme, no harmony can 

 be brought to exist amongst them. Where 

 collections of species, or even of varieties, are 

 cultivated, they should have a place especially 

 assigned to themselves, because they afford a 

 species of gratification peculiar to themselves, 

 and that can never be obtained in the parterre ; 

 and if attempted there, it would destroy the 

 whole effect which such scenes are calculated to 

 produce. With seven plants, each of a simple 

 or homogeneous colour, all that is capable of 

 being produced in regard to the harmonious 

 arrangement of colour may be effected ; and 

 some even produce most satisfactory effects by 

 the employment of only the three primary ones 

 — yellow, blue, and red. We have entered 

 into the details of this subject so fully in the 

 section " Harmony of Colours," vol. i. p. 593, 

 that a reference to that portion of this work 

 renders further allusion to it here superfluous. 

 Many of the plants employed for this purpose — 

 some of the strong-growing scarlet geraniums, 

 for example — in rich soils, and even in poor ones 

 in wet seasons, are apt to grow too luxuriantly, 

 producing large foliage, and coming late into 

 bloom. To correct this habit, it is well to re- 

 tain them in the pots in which they have been 

 brought forward, and to plunge them in the 

 borders 2 inches under the rim of the pots. 

 This also facilitates their being taken up in 

 autumn. Pots about 7 to 10 inches in diameter 

 are well suited to the purpose, and in such 

 pots they may remain two seasons, or may be 

 shifted in spring into a size larger, or have some 



