EOYAL PAEKS, ENGLAND : MANAGEMENT AND ORGANISATION. 285 



the Grape Hyacinth, and Fritillarias are all most valuable in this way. 

 The one great drawback to this kind of gardening is that the grass cannot 

 be cut until the bulbs have completely — or almost completely — died down, 

 and the consequence is that mowing must be deferred till quite late 

 in the season, and when it is done the patches are brown and unsightly. 

 I should say that by planting a variety of bulbs in the same plot we can 

 get a succession of flowers lasting, perhaps, seven weeks, e.g. Crocus, 

 Star Narcissus, early Tulips, later Tulips (such as Golden Eagle), and 

 Poet's Narcissus. A great consideration for spring gardening is the 

 collection of flowering shrubs and trees to be selected both for flowers 

 and foliage, among which we may especially mention Forsythias, Weigelas, 

 Lilacs in great variety. Guelder Eose, Coral- flowered Apple and Siberian 

 Crab, Brooms, Amelanchiers, the Bird Cherry, Philadelphus, golden Privet, 

 Dogwood, Buckthorn, Syringa Emodi, to say nothing of Azaleas and 

 Rhododendrons, with others too numerous to mention. 



The effect may be much enhanced by careful attention in planting to 

 secure a proper combination of the different colours of foliage. You may 

 have observed in Kew Gardens the very beautiful eft'ects produced by 

 what they term their " coloured shrubberies." Care should, I think, be 

 taken to get the lighter foliage in front, and the darker ones, such as 

 Purple Hazel, Prunus Pissardi, &c. at the back. 



It will, I dare say. have been noticed by many of you, that, during the 

 last twenty years, we have altogether changed the style of bedding in 

 the Royal Parks generally ; e.g. twenty years ago in Park Lane the summer 

 bedding consisted almost entirely of Pelargoniums, with border of Iresines 

 and Lobelia, &c. We have now to a great extent discarded the use of Pelar- 

 goniums for bedding out. We have instead an endless variety of hardy ^ 

 half hardy, and exotic plants, entailing in their cultivation much more 

 labour and expense. We have also almost entirely discarded carpet 

 bedding, though occasionally we prepare two or three with a view to 

 pleasing all tastes, and of showing what was in former times a favourite 

 style of gardening. We regard carpet bedding, as most people probably 

 now do, as a very inartistic and unnatural style as well as very expensive. 

 I remember, I think in the year 1880, having the number of separate 

 plants in our carpet beds counted. There were upwards of 150,000, and 

 among them there were upwards of 27,000 Alternantheras. 



The number of beds that have to be filled, many of them several times 

 over, as before said, is very large ; to give some idea of the amount of 

 material of some kind or another that has to be produced, I may say that 

 in the Central Parks the number of beds is approximately 215, in 

 Regent's Park 98, and in Hampton Court Gardens 131, besides an 

 enormous number in other parks and gardens. To fill all these, where 

 the amount of money available is limited, involves careful consideration^ 

 and any system that will enable us to show a mass of colour at a small 

 expenditure of money and labour deserves attention. In illustration I 

 may mention a large circular bed on the north side of Rotten Row, which 

 for many years has been filled with purple Epilohiiim august if oliumy 

 known as the French Willow or Willow herb, and adjoining it is a 

 similar bed, filled with Lythrum roseum or Purple Loosestrife. These 

 were put in some seven or eight years ago, nothing has been done 



