THE PARC MONCEAU. 



51 



luxuriant mignonette ; Wigandia^ springing from the little 

 silvery sea produced by the mixture of the blue and white 

 varieties of Brachycome iberidifolia ; Caladium esculentum, 

 from a rich surface of flowering Petunias ; glowing Hibiscus, 

 from Gnaphalium; graceful dwarf Drac£enas_, from very 

 dwarf Alternantheras ; Aralias, from Cuphea ; taller Dra- 

 caenas, from a deep and richly-toned mass of Coleus Ver- 

 schaff'eltii ; Erythrina, from a sweet low carpet of soft purple 

 Lantana ; tall Solanums, on mats of that most finished little 

 plant Nierembergia ; sea-green Bocconias_, from the dwarf 

 dark-toned Oxalis corniculata var., and so on. Eeflect for 

 a moment how consistent is all this with the best garden- 

 ing, and the purest taste. Your bare earth is covered 

 quickly wath these free-growing dwarfs j there is an imme- 

 diate and a charming contrast between the dwarf-flowering 

 and the fine-foliaged plants ; and should the last at any 

 time put their heads too high for the more valuable things 

 above, they can be cut in for a second bloom, as was the 

 case with some Petunias here which had got a little too 

 high for their slow-growing superiors. In the case of using 

 foliage plants that are eventually to cover the bed com- 

 pletely, annual plants may be sown, and they in many cases 

 will pass out of bloom and may be cleared away just as the 

 large leaves begin to cover the ground. Where this is not 

 the case, but the larger plants are placed thin enough to 

 always allow of the lower ones being seen, two or even 

 more kinds of dwarf plants may be employed, so that the 

 one may succeed the other, and that there may be a 

 mingling of bloom. 



It may be thought that this kind of mixture would in- 

 terfere with what is called the unity of effect that we 

 attempt to attain in our flower-gardens. This need not be 

 so by any means ; the system could be grandly used in the 

 most formal of gardens laid out on the massing system pure 

 and simple ; besides, are there not positions in every place 

 where such arrangements could be made without inter- 

 fering with what is sometimes called the "flower garden 

 proper'^ ? Some may say we cannot grow the fine-leaved 

 plants in England. But this is not so. The most beautiful 



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