THE MIXED FLOWER-GARDEN. 



51 



sliould not^ at least in the northern parts of the island^ 

 be naturally damp. The hybrid rhododendrons, which 

 have been raised from the tree rhododendrons of India, 

 though not quite hardy in many localities, may yet be 

 grown very generally, if planted in warm and sheltered 

 positions. As these varieties bloom late in spring and 

 early in summer, their flowers attain a greater beauty if 

 their flower-buds are protected from the vernal fr^osts by 

 some temporary awning or light glass covering. Hap- 

 pily, many new and hardier sorts are now introduced 

 every year. — American gardens assume a variety of 

 forms. They may be formed either with small inter- 

 vening lawns or without them. They are generally laid 

 out on grass ; but as the plants they contain are mostly 

 evergreens, that ground- work is not so necessary as in 

 the rosary and the flower-garden. 



The Mixed Flower Garden is one in which the above- 

 mentioned special departments are not kept distinct, but 

 in which the inmates of the parterre, the rosary^ the 

 American garden, and other classes of flowers and shrubs, 

 are all mingled together in agreeable variety. To these 

 may be added a number of artistical decorations. It is 

 certainly the most eSective arrangement when all seasons 

 are taken iuto consideration. When laid out in a supe- 

 rior style, it should be made the most highly decorated 

 scene connected with the residence^ whether its place is 

 immediately adjacent to the mansion or is withdrawn 

 into a more remote division of the pleasm^e-ground. In 

 a work like the present we cannot ofier definite plans for 

 this species of flower-garden : indeed, these plans may 

 be as varied and numerous as the diversified circum- 

 stances of places or the varying tastes of difierent pro- 

 prietors. We may remark, however, that the living 



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