November 8. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
75 
it would turn out. If the leaves of it wove dark 
green it would form a splendid mass, but they are 
somewhat grayish—a had tint to set off any shade of 
red. Plumbago Larpentce is now on a par with the 
last, hut lias only been in good bloom since the be¬ 
ginning of October, when it ceased growing. Poor 
soil on a dry bottom, and old plants of it, will make 
this a very different thing from what some wise 
heads have in their haste anticipated. Mr. Page, 
gardener to Lady Harland, in this neighbourhood, 
called here for the first time as I was taking these 
notes, and ho was astonished to see our principal bed 
of it so beautifully in bloom, and as he is fresh from 
the “ London boards,” as they say of other clever 
people, I thought this a good compliment; but of 
course the poor soil had done it all, and next time it 
shall be poorer still. Ageratum mexicanum is another 
plant that is now as gay as ever, but it does not arrange 
well in any systematic combination of colours, and 
yet is too bright for a neutral bed, being a kind of 
blackish gray. It does better as a broad band enclos¬ 
ing a mass of white or scarlet in a circular bed, but 
best ot all by itself at a distance from the walks, in 
some recess where it is backed by the dark green foli¬ 
age ol shrubs, and for that kind of effect at a distance 
from the eye we have none to equal it. These are the 
principal miscellaneous plants that have continued 
so late in bloom. 
Petunias, verbenas, calceolarias, and geraniwmns of 
sorts, will furnish matter for a separate letter, as their 
numbers are almost endless, and as I never had the 
greater part of them so fino as they wore this autumn, 
I can hardly trust myself to make a beginning upon 
them, tor fear that I should take up too much room 
and make the subject tiresome to the reader. Of the 
Calceolarias, I shall only say that Mr. Fish has hit 
upon the very best of the whole family, the Kentish 
Hero, for a bed, the colour being a reddish brown. 
It is just on the verge of neutrality, but with two 
other shades rising into red orange, and with the clear 
yellows, will form one of the most splendid shaded 
yellow beds that can be formed. It only propagates 
Ireely in the spring, not but that it will root from a 
lew pieces at the bottom of the plant in the autumn, 
but it would be downright extravagance to meddle 
with it then, as from every autumnal cutting, if left 
on, the plaut will make ten in March, if the plant is 
put into a gentle forcing at the beginning of Febru¬ 
ary; 
Speaking of shaded beds, I may as well say that 
this style of planting single flower beds is becoming 
more fashionable every season, and in some few in¬ 
stances the shading system may be adopted with 
marked effect in a group of beds nigh to each other; 
but it is apart from the great body of the flower gar¬ 
den, where a bed or a small group of three beds 
would come in to heighten the effect of some other 
object, that this style can be carried out to most ad¬ 
vantage. Flower garden plants have become so nu¬ 
merous in varieties, that it was found impossible 
to find room where to plant even the best varieties, 
and this gave rise to a system that is very effective 
in a few instances, which is to plant at "least three 
shades of the same colour to answer for one bed, and 
among the verbenas as many as five tints, or shades, 
of one colour may be put into one bed, and make it 
richer than any one of the five put by itself; but the 
sorts that will thus harmonise cannot very well be 
learned from books, because in different soils and 
situations the plants grow very differently as to height 
and strength; but to have the best effect, the plants 
should be so uniform in all their parts as to appear 
to bo one kind, and that producing the various tints 
which makes the bed so much admired. Shading is 
different from this, and it is among the varieties of 
the scarlet geranium that it can be easiest pointed 
out. Of them wo have dark scarlet, orange scarlet, 
a shade between scarlet and pink ( compaction and 
judi), then rose, peach, salmon, lilac, French white, 
and white. Yes, a white variety of the hoi’se-slioe as 
old as the li ills, but it is not much to boast of. Now, a 
shaded circular bed is formed out of such tints in the 
way ladies work Berlin wool, or a border along-side 
of a walk planted witli a row of each tint, from the 
white to the dark scarlet, and the reverse. 
D. Beaton. 
GREENHOUSE AND WINDOW 
GARDENING. 
Repotting Plants erom the Clump or Border 
for Setting in the Greenhouse or Window. —In 
no department of gardening have greater changes 
been effected, within these fifteen years, than in the 
mode of decorating and furnishing the flower-garden 
Plants that formerly were kept as single, or duplicate 
miserable specimens, cramped up in pots, duly set in 
house or pit during winter, and then placed to rusti¬ 
cate in some shady corner during the summer, pre¬ 
senting occasionally a few scattered flowers as a 
reward to the cultivator, have been transferred to 
the open clump or border, in numbers beyond all 
calculation, and there flourish with a luxuriance, 
and bloom with a profuseness, never previously wit 
nessed when grown in pots for windows and conser¬ 
vatories. It is said that “ evils never come singly;” 
let us rejoice that the same may be predicated of good, 
as one improvement effected soon paves the way for 
another. The turning out of geraniums, calceolarias, 
and heliotropes, &c., not only greatly improved the 
flower-garden, but the changed aspect which the plants 
presented gave rise to that combination of observa¬ 
tion, reflection, and experiment, which jointly issued 
in a greatly-improved system of pot cultivation. The 
cheapness with which many other plants may be pro¬ 
cured has brought them within the reach of many, 
who otherwise must have been content (without envy, 
for that is the product of little-mindedness) to look 
at and admire them in the gardens of' others. Only 
let the love of flowers become much more extended, 
and that cheapness in money value will soon be in 
proportion to the greatness of the demand. Talk of 
—nay, what is better, commence—teaching tropical 
orchid-growing to the many, and can there be any 
reason why these hardier plants should not be brought 
within the reach of the working millions ? In speak¬ 
ing on this subject with a nurseryman the other day, 
who has great conveniences for rearing them, he em¬ 
phatically stated that could a great demand be secured, 
they might be sent out, without ever being potted, 
but still nice little plants, at the rate of from a penny 
to twopence apiece ! Of course, such plants would 
require more nursing than those raised at home, but 
nicely would they suit those who practice floriculture 
more from deference to the tastes and opinions of 
others than from any personal enthusiasm; and ser¬ 
viceable, too, they would be to many of our cottagers 
and amateurs who may have had misfortunes with 
their favourites during the winter. But, convinced 
as we are of the benefits and the practicability of 
cheapness were the sale only great, we would still 
encourage our readers to try and preserve some of 
their best old plants that they may have planted out 
