GARDENS AND GARDENING . 
9 
out of place in very small gardens ; and a single one, such 
as an Irish juniper or a Kilmarnock willow, will often prove 
the central point of beauty. 
When trees and shrubs are to any extent impractica¬ 
ble, the lack of verdure in a garden may be satisfactorily 
supplied by ivy, either trained in pyramids or climbing 
over an arbor. The smaller varieties will agreeably break 
the formal lines of parterre gardening; and the spotted 
British ivy, the broad-leaved variety, the arrow-leaved, the 
golden-leaved, the dwarf-marbled, the digitate, etc., may 
all be effectively used for background. Nothing can be 
more desirable for edging than the dwarf varieties of this 
“rare old plant.” It is always beautiful, from the rich, 
dark shade of green in winter to the softer yellowish hue 
of the young leaves in spring and summer. The variety 
of veins, spots, and shades is quite a study, and there is 
no kind of ivy that can not, in some way, be made both use¬ 
ful and ornamental. 
In the gardens of the Tuileries the glare of color is 
softened by the numerous shrubs, both flowering and other¬ 
wise, which are planted with the most generous regard to 
their full development, each being allowed abundant space 
for its own particular individuality. Nothing is crowded 
in this arrangement, and stiff as the garden undoubtedly 
is, with its wide, straight paths, which cut up all the cen¬ 
tral space, it is not stiff with geometrical beds or solid 
phalanxes of shrubs and plants. Green predominates and 
relieves the statuary of its ordinarily staring and conspicu¬ 
ous look. The vegetation consists largely of luxuriant 
copings of Irish ivy and plant-borders to most of the 
walks, while the centers of the squares are smooth, velvety 
plots of beautifully kept turf. In this way, the eye is re¬ 
lieved and rested from the glare of the stone vases, ped¬ 
estals, statues, etc., and no blaze of color deprives it of its 
powers of discrimination. 
