452 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
September 12. 
• 
and distract, rather than refresh, the mind. I have 
deemed it necessary to urge these things, inasmuch as 
it may appear a sudden bound on my part from the 
Fruit into the Flower-garden. But, in good truth, the 
line of demarcation, as our great men would call it, or 
what we gardeners would call, in our phaseologv, the 
slip hedge (which not unfrequently divides such depart¬ 
ments, and as frequently has a blemish in some part), is 
easily broken through by a man of metal. 
This period, the end of August, is, perhaps, a better 
time to think about flower-gardening, past, present, and 
prospective, than any other. Our wondrous scheming, 
in April and May, on which we laid so much stress, is 
still fresh on the memory. The fruition of our plans is 
before our eyes, and fresh suggestions, consequent on 
successful results, or absurd miscalculations, must, of 
necessity, tread close on the heels of any close considera¬ 
tion of the subject. And there is nothing like “ proof 
impressions;” nothing like dotting ideas down, when, 
as Burns said— 
“ My Barmie Noddle’s working prime.” 
The past summer has been, on the whole, a good one 
for flower-gardening; the man who persists in calling it 
a bad one must be a Grumbletonian indeed. 
I have, this season, more than ever proved the benefit 
of thoroughly working deeply, and pulverising, beds for 
masses. I had them in high ridges from the beginning 
of February until the middle of March, when they were 
turned again in dry weather to the bottom, well broken, 
and again thrown in ridges; and in the first week of 
May they were turned again, and thoroughly pulverised. 
What dressings were necessary for the flowers were then 
added, and forked in within six inches .of the surface; 
and most of the masses have succeeded admirably. 
The chief points in successful bedding, as far as the 
soil is concerned, is to break the soil very deep, and thus 
to sweeten and pulverise it, and to keep the fresh dress¬ 
ing near the surface. By these means, the plants start 
freely at first, and on reaching the ordinary soil, which 
is, of course, of moderate quality, they grow more com¬ 
pact, blossom freely without heavy foliage, and, through 
a very deep-rooting medium, continued to work steadily 
in defiance of droughts: this saves much waterpot- 
labour. 
I may here point to a few beds, which have been 
much admired; their combinations may be familiar to 
some, but may also furnish hints to others. A bed of 
fancy Geraniums, in full bloom, when planted out on 
the 20th May, received a band or edging of Pansies, 
three colours" nearly seifs; viz., blues, yellows, and 
purples, alternately. This has been one of the richest 
beds in the garden—always gay. The fancies were a 
row of the Diadematwm down the centre, and an outer 
row, all round, of Statuiskia, Decora, Siclonia, Nosegay, 
and Lady Flora Hastings ; the Pansies being kept 
from touching, and, indeed, the Geraniums so staked 
out at first, as to be each a distinct bush. These are 
flowering as fine as ever now, the beginning of Sep¬ 
tember. A bed of the old Clove Carnation, planted in 
groups; three strong pots, with three each in a group, 
had a band of Mignonette around the margin, and 
strong plants of the Viscaria Oculata —a Dianthus- 
looking thing—between every two groups of the Clove. 
This has been, and is, a beautiful bed; quite the 
favourite with the ladies. 
A bed of German Stocks, the most double I ever 
had, has a band of Mignonette around it; the latter not 
entering amongst the Stocks, but forming an exterior 
fringe uniformly rouud the bed to the grass-margin, 
which in no case, however, is suffered to he quite 
reached; a distinct edging being sustained in this and 
all the beds. 
A gold and blue bed, which, indeed, has been second 
to none in gaiety and beauty of outline, has a row of \ 
Salvia patens down the centre, a row of Calceolaria 
amplexicaulis all round the Salvias, and an edging, or 
band, of Pleliotropes pegged closely down. But the 
Salvias were managed as my worthy friend Mr. Beaton 
has suggested; the plants were got very forward, and 
wei-e several times pinched, until disposed to be squat 
bushes, or stools, and the first leaders were then pegged 
closely down. This bed makes the finest outline without 
staking that I have seen; the Calceolarias are so inter¬ 
woven with the numerous shoots of the Salvia, as to 
need no support, and the whole appears as if no storm 
could disarrange it. It is, and has been, for many weeks,' 
one uniform mass of gold and blue, and gay in the 
extreme. I never knew Salvia patens so comely before. 
A bed of scarlet and white is thus composed: Lobelia 
fulgens in groups down the centre, and the Shrubland 
White Petunia all round; it was to have had a hand of 
Robinson's Defiance Verbena round, but we had not 
plants enough; the Lobelias have not been so strong 
as I could have wished, or, had they been fine, with a 
band of Defiance around, this would have been a rich 
bed, and of good figure. As for the Petunias they are 
admirable bushes. 
A bed composed of the carmine shades of Horse-shoe 
Geraniums, such as Beaton's Cream-Coloured, Cherry 
Cheek, and a bronzy variety, had a hand of Musk around; 
the Geraniums so dwarfed as to be all blossoms nearly, 
has been a very gay and tasty affair. Rouge-et-noir, 
with a row of silver-striped Geraniums, and edge of 
Musk, make a very nice mass; but I should have pre¬ 
ferred a band of CEnothcera misouriensis around. By- 
the-by, this last plant is a capital thing for a baud, kept 
well pegged down whilst young. Verbenas alone, in 
mixtures, make beautiful beds, putting all the shades 
of puce, purple, blue, lilac, &c., in another; both beds 
receiving a regular sprinkling of white, such as Mont 
Blanc, through them. 
And now, a few words on those old-fashioned beds 
composed, in the main, of herbaceous plants, filled up 
occasionally with plants of character from the reserve 
J ground. However many an old gardener, in the midst 
: of the bedding mania, which has so much prevailed 
during the last seven years, has lamented the fate to 
! which those favourites of his earlier days, the Phloxes, 
Asters, Gentianas, Delphiniums, Dracoceplialums, Core¬ 
opsis, Rudbeckias, &c., &c., have been subjected, in 
consequence of the monopoly claimed by those more 
dashing things of recent introduction, in the rage for 
a clearance, we have well-nigh lost sight of plants, many 
of which will outlive these gaudy pets of the day. Some 
have receded into the most inferior positions in shrubbery 
borders; some have slunk away into kitchen-gardens; and 
not a fow to rubbish-yards. I do not dispute here, that 
j a garden, rich in mass flowers alone, is more suddenly 
attractive, and better adapted to surprise, than the herba¬ 
ceous tribes, many of which are what are termed cold 
colours; but for those men of high taste, with whom a 
mere dash of glowing colours is second in importance to 
richness of detail and dignified outline, a miscellaneous 
j garden, in which many of our best herbaceous tribes are 
still enabled to hold a prominent position, proves, I 
believe, more suggestive, more satisfactory. 
Then the Annuals. I have a marginal border here, in a 
capital situation, and of good soil, in which well-grown 
annuals prevail, mingled with strong specimens of half- 
hardy things of considerable size, and possessing distinct¬ 
ness of outline and individuality. This border is, to me, 
far more gratifying than the richest masses. But so much 
depends on the arrangement of borders of this character; 
for, say what they will, the general outline of a bed, or 
border, is a thing of importance; an accessory to delightful 
j impressions, albeit the mind of the observer may not be 
I sufficiently cultivated to be able to tell why ho is pleased. 
