Formal Flower-Beds 



palaces ; and so, on a larger scale, are the 

 beautiful new gardens which lie where the 

 Tuileries palace stood — betw^een the great 

 Tuileries gardens with their ranges of an- 

 cient trees, and the paved courtyard of the 

 Louvre. 



The flower-beds in these spots, I say, are 

 formal in outline ; but they are merely long 

 simple strips, not true pattern-beds, nor do 

 the plants which fill them grow in patterns. 

 They are disposed with a certain symmetry, 

 but neither disposed nor grown with mathe- 

 matical precision. Shrubby perennials — 

 standard roses, dwarf standard alth^as, and 

 Persian or Chinese lilacs being the favorites 

 — are set at regular intervals along the cen- 

 tre of a bed, its ends or corners being com- 

 monly marked by rather taller specimens. 

 Between these, conspicuous plants of lesser 

 height are set, and then the bed is filled to 

 its edges with a varied mass of still lovrer 

 plants. In August and September I noted, 

 among those of medium size, dahlias of 

 different heights, gladioli, cannas, asters, 

 and bush-daisies ; and, among the low ones, 

 geraniums, heliotropes, tuberous begonias, 



