THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 
3 
Ivy grows slowly at first ; it taxes one’s patience wlien it is wanted 
as a distinct furnishing element, and while it is in progress the 
appearance of the mound, if tastefully built, is at least pleasing. 
Annuals of quiet colours and a few greenhouse perennials may be 
put out on the pile, and neatness and completeness may thus be 
attained at once, and the smaller aids dispensed with as the ivy 
makes its second spring growth, and promises to cover the whole 
with its glossy wealth of green. In the planting of ivy in these 
mounds strong plants should be employed, and April is the best 
season to plant them. 
Now as to another sort of rock- work for the strictly ornamental 
ground, let us take even the smallest of suburban or town gardens, 
measuring say from sixty to ninety feet in length, by from twenty 
to thirty in breadth. The garden is bounded on three sides by walls, 
and on the fourth by the house. It is laid out with a central grass- 
plot and flower-beds. Around the walls runs a narrow border, 
separated from the grass-plot by a continuous path. The walls must 
be covered with ivy, clematis, jasmine, and other climbers; and if 
the evergreen shrubs are well disposed, and the flowers grouped in 
good masses of colour, the scene will be pleasing, and afford as much 
space for gardening labours as most people having but moderate 
leisure will be able to cultivate. Let the border under the rear wall 
be raised into a bank, with a facing of large burrs, such as are 
supplied for the purpose, the lower tier being sunk a few inches 
below the surface. A few large rough blocks of limestone, or any 
other grey or dark rock, may mingle well with the facing ; and on 
the upper tier some large dark flints may be set. The mass of the 
bank is composed of rich sandy loam, and the rock-work is so 
arranged that there are plenty of interstices for the insertion cf 
plants in the front. A white poplar, birch, or tree of any kind, will 
be an improvement if planted towards one side in the midst of a 
January. 
