Apkil 8. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
IS) 
originality about it, which, although it may not be 
worthy of imitation, cannot fail to suggest some new 
idea, and a new idea always leads the mind to a set of 
rules and principles which are already worn so thread¬ 
bare, that you cannot originate a new thought or idea 
from the perusal. He would have been delighted with 
I part of my task which bothers me so much—looking 
over plans of so many flower-gardens—and I should be 
equally pleased if our correspondents would bear in 
mind the conditions I proposed when this question was 
first opened, namely, to send me only a draft of an 
actual plan already planted, or proposed to be so planted 
another year, with the names of the plants written one 
way, on the shape of the beds, so that I could read them 
off as I would a page of a book. Now, any gardener, 
who has been in the habit of planting flowers exten¬ 
sively, could see at one glance whether a given arrange¬ 
ment would be likely to suit or turn out according to ex¬ 
pectation, or, at any rate, he could easily see a glaring 
fault. If I heard a man singiug or playing Jenny's 
Babie, or Polly put the kettle on, or the Highland Laddie, 
or any other of those old Scotch songs which are, or 
rather were, familiar to my ear, I could tell in a moment 
if he made a false note, and that false note would grate 
upon my ear; and it is just so with the arrangements of 
flowers in a set of beds. But, supposing that I was 
asked to compose a new song, an Italian or a Spanish 
air for instance, is there a man alive who would believe 
that an old gardener could do such a thing; and yet I am 
asked to do things just as preposterous almost every week 
in the year, about planting flower-gardens on paper, 
a thing which no one connected with this work has ever 
1 thought of attempting. Now, if we could come to a right 
understanding about this subject, no one need hesitate 
about sending us plans of their proposed arrangements 
for the ensuing season; and to keep down the necessary 
expenses of such correspondence, I shall ask our worthy 
Editor to stop every letter at the office which does not 
comply with the simple rules just laid down, and a 
notice to that effect will appear among the usual 
answers to correspondents. 
All the plans which I have hitherto received are filed, 
i and a bundle of them are now being studied by a young 
i landscape gardener who thinks them very useful, for he 
takes the same view of these things as my Austrian 
friend; so that besides the individual interest attached 
to these plans, they come in useful for suggesting new 
ideas both to myself aud others, and I should willingly 
go on with them on a proper footing. 
As a subject connected with this part of our under¬ 
taking, I shall mention a beautiful and very large bou¬ 
quet, or nosegay, which I saw lately. It was destined 
for one of the very first drawing-rooms in London; 
it was made up chiefly of camellia flowers, principally 
white ones, but interspersed with red, pink, and rose- 
coloured flowers of the same plant, still the ground 
colour of the group was white, with a blush tint;— 
round the outside, a row of fern leaves, or fronds, hung 
1 down very gracefully; altogether this group was exceed- 
j ingly well arranged, just as one would would wish to see 
l a group of flower-beds, where they could be seen at a 
good distance off. 
There are only three colours in flowers which will 
appear striking to a spectator at a few hundred yards 
distance from them—white, scarlet, and yellow ; and 
when you come near to these colours in large masses, 
and find shades of them interspersd in smaller beds, the 
effect of the stronger colours is much weakened ; unless, 
indeed, the plants and beds were so arranged that these 
shades run in gradation, which is one of the most 
difficult things to do well in any garden. I never saw 
the effect produced by the strong colours on weaker 
shades of them better exemplified than in the large 
nosegay, the ground of which was white, as I have just 
said. The camellia flowers being circular, they could ■ 
not be made to touch each other all round: when you j 
put three of them together there will be a small open 
space in the centre, and these open spaces occurred at 
regular distances all over the face of the nosegay, wriiich 
was nearly flat, and quite circular. To fill up the open 1 
spaces, flowers of the Neapolitan violet, a grey, and of j 
Dendrobium nobile, or some allied species, were used; the 
flowers of the Dendrobe being chiefly white, or lightish, ! 
with a blotch of fine purple coming in between two 
white and one pink camellia, both the white and purple 
were entirely drowned by the stronger colours ; the grey 
of the violets in the same position was not only lost, but 
looked the very picture of starvation itself; and if you I 
went back six yards from the nosegay, you could not 
discern either the violets or the Dendrobe at all. 
Elower-beds of these colours put together would look 
much worse under the eye, and they would not improve 
at a distance from it. If the flowers of a good yellow 
Dendrobe, those of D. chrysanthum for instance, and the 
old double blue, or tree violet, were used instead of the 
others, how different would have been the effect! It is 
true that the blue spots on a white ground would look , 
black at a distance, still that would be a strong contrast, 
while the yellow spots would tell equally well at a dis¬ 
tance under the eye. 
Now, if plans of flower-gardens were sent as I always 
insisted on, the names of the plants would impress the 
colours as strongly on the mind’s eye as those in the 
nosegay would on the critic’s eyes, and every false spot 
would appear as vivid as if the actual living plants were 
arrayed before you, and what could be easier than to 
point out such blemishes on the instant. But, suppose 
all the colours and shades in a flower-garden were writ¬ 
ten on slips of paper, put into a hat, shook about, and 
then turned over on the table, the whole could not puz¬ 
zle me more than some of the lists I have seen. But I 
think I have said enough to convince any one of the 
utter impossibility of getting harmony or contrast, or 
even a decent show, from such materials so arranged. 
There are many ways of planting a flower-garden, and 
as many methods of arranging flowers in a large nose¬ 
gay ; but with the exception of wedding nosegays, which 
should always be made of the whitest flowers, the ar¬ 
rangement of the flowers may be reduced to three heads. 
First, to make choice of flowers all of one colour, or 
nearly so, and then using a small quantity of other 
flowers that will make a strong contrast with the ground 
colour. Secondly, shading the flowers from the centre 
to the sides; and thirdly, quartering the circle with four 
kinds of colours that harmonize well together, or with j 
two colours in contrast, one quarter of the nosegay being | 
of the same flowers as the quarter opposite to it, or, bet- | 
ter still, the colours to be the same in each pair of quar- | 
teriug, but the flowers to be from two different kinds of 
plants. Thus, one quarter of some pea-flower of a given 
colour, and the quarter opposite to it, to be of pea-flowers 
also, but from a different plant. The size of the indi¬ 
vidual flowers to be as nearly alike as can be, then the j 
other two quarters may be of composite flowers in the j 
same way. This is the most dilficult kind of nosegay to j 
make well. When you have a choice and abundance of : 
flowers, shading them is the easiest way, and when j 
flowers are very scarce, the mixed nosegay is the safest J 
to attempt, but it should never be without a ground j 
colour, if artistic effect is at all attempted, 'lo get a halt- 
dozen of mixed flowers bundled up together anyhow, 
and go’into good company with such a nosegay in these 
days, is looked upon as a certain mark of something I 
dare not write—certainly not a mark of high breeding; 
and the same mark and remarks now pass in criticising 
the composition of flower-gardens. D. Beaton. 
