COMPANION TO THE FLORAL MAGAZINE. 
9 
ON THE PRESENT STYLE OP GARDENING. 
Considerable discussion has taken place lately in the gardening world, 
upon the success or failure of the style known as the “ bedding-out sys¬ 
tem by some it has been unsparingly condemned, by others extrava¬ 
gantly praised; with its adversaries it has not one redeeming feature, 
with its advocates not one blemish. Viewing the subject from a perfectly 
impartial “ stand-point,” having neither the labour of providing for an 
immense garden on our hands, nor any one’s taste to consult, we may 
perhaps be enabled to take a clearer view of the subject, one of those 
many ones on which, as Sir Roger de Coverley said, “ a great deal may 
be said on both sides.” 
Looking into our own views on the subject, we think the main objec¬ 
tions to the present system arise from the bald appearance of the garden 
during eight months of the year, and the great flatness and sameness of 
colour in the beds when they are filled; and there can be no doubt, we 
think, but that these are serious objections. We fancy when one sees in 
a garden, the owner of which lays no claim to being up to the require¬ 
ments of the age, in early spring the various old English garden flowers 
peeping up,—the double Primroses and Hepaticas, the blue Gentianella, 
or the yellow Alvssum,—while one’s own beds, which are to be a blaze 
of beauty by-and-by, are like a fallow field, there is an instinctive sort 
of feeling that we wish this bedding-out system was at the bottom of 
the sea; and yet we think, when one returns to that garden in July or 
August, you have a sort of feeling that after all, the true way to get 
brilliancy of colour and effect is by massing plants in beds. Now, is it 
not possible to combine both of these P Can we not have gay gardens in 
spring and brilliant ones in summer, provided always that means and ap¬ 
pliances are within reach? Could not the same beds be filled with 
spring flowers, to make way for the Geraniums, Verbenas, etc., in sum¬ 
mer? Bulbs, we know, are very effective, and would largely contribute 
to this end; but could not herbaceous plants be also used, to be removed 
into some reserve garden when the time came for the bedding-out plants. 
Surely, when skill and perseverance have done so much, we cannot say 
that this is beyond the power of the gardener ? Wallflowers and Pansies 
would come in very effectively, the former to be thrown away when the 
flowering is over, and the latter to be taken up and divided. While say¬ 
ing this, we would at the same time advise that when there are means 
for so doing, there should be one good-sized border set apart for the more 
valuable 'of the favourite old flowers of former days. Then, with re¬ 
gard to the flatness complained of, surely this might be remedied. No 
one complains of this at the Crystal Palace, because of the beautifully 
undulating character of the ground; while at South Kensington the ex¬ 
treme flatness of the surface aggravates the evil. This is one way in 
which it might be met: another would be by introducing groups of taller 
B 
