204 
ON PLANTING SHRUBS IN BEDS, 
Although, in the management of the flower-garden, the old system of having 
as great a variety of plants as possible in every bed is now generally abandoned, 
and each plot is commonly filled with one species or variety, there is too little 
indication manifested to extend the practice to pleasure-grounds, and to bring 
beneath it the many beautiful shrubs with which our gardens abound. Ornamental 
shrubs, indeed, with the exception of a few detached specimens, are still usually 
employed along the margins of plantations alone, or, as in the cases of Roses, 
Heaths, &c, set apart in a small garden by themselves. 
It is to rectify this want of appreciation of their capacity for grouping, and to 
specify those which are best adapted for the purpose, that we publish the following 
remarks. The large amount of interest that is lost to a place by the neglect of 
the plan herein spoken of, is incalculable by those who have never seen the fine 
effect which scattered masses of shrubs at all times produce. We would not argue 
that they are preferable to single plants, because both are exceedingly useful to give 
a diversity of surface ; but, at all seasons, it is certain that the former must have 
a more imposing and effective appearance. We shall treat, separately, of the 
situation in which they should be placed, the form and composition of the 
beds, the nature of the plants suited for being thus arranged, and their preparation 
and treatment. 
Of the position proper for groups of shrubs, we have said something in our last 
Number, (p. 182,) at which the reader may just cast a glance as he proceeds. 
Flower-gardens are ordinarily considered the most appropriate for fronting or 
surrounding mansions, as they can be adapted, in their forms, to the style of the 
building, and are the most highly-finished and decorated objects which the garden 
contains, thus harmonizing with the polished and artificial character of the building. 
They are, moreever, the lowest or dwarfest species of ornament which can be 
used, and cannot by any possibility obstruct the vision from even the bottom 
windows of the house. Beyond the flower-garden, trees are often introduced, 
indiscriminately, either singly or in masses, and there is no regular gradation from 
the one to the other, and nothing of an intermediate nature to break the abruptness 
of the transition. Sometimes large groups, composed of a mixture of shrubs and 
flowers, are made use of, and these are desirable in limited proportions. Yet, 
between them and the flower-gardens, there is room left for planting a few beds of 
low shrubs exclusively, and beyond their intrinsic agreeableness, they would please 
by forming a step in the passage from the humbler to the higher orders of 
vegetation. 
We have thus assumed that the plants which adorn the lawns in the neighbour- 
