The Flower Garden . 
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garden. Such a garden is beautiful always, and so it is “a joy for ever.” 
The beauty never palls, for it is ever changing ; day by day it unfolds fresh 
charms, and while it never ceases to call for our tenderest care, it repays our 
solicitude with present smiles and promises of joys to come. It is a work of 
art with a thousand natural graces, and it has this advantage over some other 
things of beauty—it is quick with life, and a life that is always young. For a 
practical question, we have to ask ourselves how is this perennial beauty to be 
attained ? The first thing, of course, is to design the garden with due regard 
to the results we wish to achieve; we must take care to provide conditions in 
themselves favourable to beauty. To this end let us venture upon the follow¬ 
ing general directions :—banish formality; eschew straight lines ; learn how to 
group gracefully (i) growths perpendicular, horizontal, and pendulous; (2) 
deciduous with evergreen trees and shrubs; and (3) fruit with shrubs and 
flowers. Have regard to the general effect, but at the same time break up the 
garden into a series of contrasts and harmonies in form and colour, so that a 
different picture is revealed at every few paces. Remember, sunshine is all- 
important, but do not forget that shadow is in itself one chief source of beauty, 
while shade is a necessity to many beautiful flowers; mass your colours, but 
let them be relieved and intensified by an abundance of foliage. 
As an example we will take the annexed ground plan, which suggests 
a method of dealing with a modest piece of ground measuring, say, 
from 100 to 150 feet, with a width of 60 feet. The house occupies the E 
extremity, and is supposed to have windows looking west or gardenwards. 
On the north we have a border (a) running the whole length of the garden, 
and on its outer margin we propose to plant a medley of trees, deciduous and 
evergreen, including apples, pears, plums, and medlars, an almond, a white 
poplar or two, several yews, hollies, and thujas, a purple beech, a maple, one 
or two golden elders, a Bird Cherry (Frunuspadus ), etc. Never mind if they 
soon begin to overlap each other a little, that will be in itself an element of 
beauty, and, moreover, it is easy to thin out here and there when it becomes 
really necessary. Medium and low-growing shrubs and bushes should be 
placed irregularly in front and about them, some of the more dwarf and 
recumbent kinds coming down to the edge of the gravel pathway ( b ) at uneven 
intervals, although in general they should obtrude no further than a point 
varying from three to five feet away, to allow of room for flower roots. In 
the north-east corner plant two or three spruce firs, a deciduous cypress and 
a laburnum. In the north-west corner there is room for one or two silver 
