October 2. 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
2 
comiectiiig bands ongbt to be white; and I would 
either use the variegated Alyssium, or Mangles' varie¬ 
gated Geranhan, for that purpose. As the Tom Thumbs 
do so well here, and come so readily to a uniform sur¬ 
face, or “ face,” I would prefer the Alyssium, as doing the 
same more perfectly and with less trimming during the 
season. There is nothing in all our flower-gardens 
W'hich answers more perfectly, or look better, than the 
“ ring-beds ” here round the massive pedestals. I said 
as much about them before they were planted last 
spring, and I then recommended that style for universal 
adoption ; and now, I would appeal to any lady who has 
studied such things, and who has seen those beds, if 
they ai-e not at the same time the most economical and 
the most beautiful and telling of all the beds in this 
beautiful garden, or in any garden wliatever.—Crimson 
rings, of uniform thickness and of even surface through¬ 
out, with a delicate line of deep blue, much lower than 
the body of the ring, intervening between the gorgeous 
crimson, or scarlet-crimson flowers of Tom Thumb and 
the Green Sward, with massive white stone pedestals in 
the centre, on a proportionate circle of gra^s within the 
ring.— {See page (58 of Volume XIV.) 
Soon after describing what these beds wmuld be, at 
that page, a lady asked me if such a bed would look well 
on gravel, but unfortunately, at that moment I was 
heart and hand engaged on an interesting lean-to roof 
against an Ivy wall, and said No, without collecting my 
thoughts, then on the Ivy. I never saw a ring-bed on 
gravel; but I have since studied the subject sufficiently 
to be able to say, decidedly, that a ring-bed, with scarlet 
flowers, will look far better and more telling on gravel 
than on grass; but a deep blue edging would not be so 
well on gravel, as it is now at the Crystal Palace, 
namely. Lobelia ramosa. I can tell, however, from 
seven long years experience of the past, that the Golden 
Chain Geranium is, of all other plants, the best edging 
near the gravel; and the tint of the leaf of the Golden 
Chain is so fortunate as to suit almost any colour in a 
bed, and that of Tom Thumb the best of all; therefore, 
if you have a Venus, or a Pallas, or a Juno, or Flora, 
or Pomona, standing up on a pedestal, and on gravel, 
pray put a ring-bed of Tom Thumb round the figure, and 
an edging of the Golden Chain round that; but, first of 
all, edge the ring inside and outside with dwarf Box; the 
proper proportions, according to my eye, and according 
as they are laid down at the Crystal Palace, you will 
find at the said 08th page of Volume XIV. 
I entered, this time, at the bottom of the colonnade, in 
the south wing, as you come from the London Bridge 
Station; that colonnade is about as long as from my 
house to the Kingston Station, and looks to the north¬ 
east, or nearly so; the back wall of it may be about 
twenty feet high, with a four-feet border, then a broad 
stone pavement wide enough to let ten, or twelve, or 
more walk abreast. Then, there is upright glass, be¬ 
tween you and the garden, as high as the back wall, and | 
the top is of glass, on the ridge and furrow plan. On | 
the 20th of last April, when I was last in this colonnade, I 
the back wall was trellised for climbers, and the earth, I 
01 bed for the border was filled in; but there were no j 
plants planted out, recollect; and recollect, also, and 
do not forget it as long as you live, or the height of the 
back wall either, —twenty feet or more,—almost every 
inch of all this height and great length was covered by 
the 19th of September; and yet no fire, no forcing, no 
close glass, and no old-established plants, but sheer 
good gardening, good soil, good air and water, and a 
vast deal of good stopping and training. Thus, then, 
is one of the greatest problems in gardening solved 
here, and nowhere else, at the first start. A conserva¬ 
tory wall, twenty feet high, and as long as from here to 
Balmoral, may be planted with young plants in such a 
way as that in the neighbourhood of London, and they 
will cover it, from one end to the other, in one summer - 
season. I have seen Mushrooms got up to “ order,” by a 
damp heat of from 90° to 90° day and night; and I have 
seen the same hands sow seeds of Mustard and Cress, 
which, in seven minutes-and-a-half, had the green blades 
ready to mix in the sallad; but such feats are as nothiug 
' to the rapid covering of this colonnade with climbers. 
I began at the bottom, and numbered the plants for 
' about one-third of the length ; and I shall here give the 
i names of the first sixty plants, just as they stand on this 
; wall, to show young beginners how the duplicates come 
j in, and to let all see the kinds of plants which have 
; been used. After that, I shall not mention the dupli- 
I cates, but I shall make, here and there, such observa- 
I tions on some of the plants as struck me at the moment. 
At the very bottom. No. 1, is Wistaria sinensis, the 
Glycine of olden times, quite hardy, of course, up to the 
' very top ; 2, Maurandya Barclayana, full from the 
I border to the very top, and wide-spread; 3, a Camellia, 
quite young, and the first permanent plant—not being a 
a climber; 4, Heliotrope, very bushy, fragrant, and 
healthy, and five feet high ; 5, Calampelis, or Eccremo- 
carpus scabra, to the very top, and wide-spread right 
and left; 0, Tea-Rose, just under an alcove, 
or niche in the wall—no doubt intended for a bust; 7, 
White Ivydeaf Geranium {Geranium is on the label), 
very high up, and well-spread ; 8, Geranium compactum 
—scarlet bedder, profusely in bloom; 9, Fuchsia cora- 
lina, six or seven feet high, glossy, and in the highest 
luxuriance; 10, White Maurandya, even higher, and as 
wide as the blue one ; 11, Brugmansiaarbuseula. —What 
on earth is this ? It is not in bloom ; and I never heard 
of it before. It has very large, soft leaves, just like a 
Clerodendron of the fallax breed, and I suspect the 
name ; a bold-looking plant, however, as tall as a man, 
and very healthy. 12, Clematis viticella —a hardy 
one, in full bloom, and nearly to the top of the wall; 
13, Hdiotrope; 14, Lophospermum speetabilis. It is 
speckled in the flowers; the meaning of the name is 
not otherwise apparent; a tremendous grower, and 
covers a great way. 15, Camellia reticulata, very 
young, and very wise to plant it so for a permanent; 
10, Fuchsia Don Giovanni, the boldest of the race; 
17, Clematis ccerulea grandijiora, hardy, yet far better 
on a protected wall; 18, Heliotrope; 19, Scarlet Gera¬ 
nium, of the Shrubland Scarlet breed; 20, Fuchsia 
Aetaon, of the gracilis form,—this seems a favourite 
here, judging from the number of it planted on this 
wall; 21, Passiflora.Newmaniana, of the raemosns sec¬ 
tion ; not in bloom, but fills well; 22, Loasa tricolor, 
^ in full bloom, — about twelve feet high, and of good 
spread ; flowers orange, on long footstalks, leaves sting 
like nettles, it is showy, and makes a good variety among 
so many—same style and same treatment as the Lophos¬ 
permum; 23, Shrubland Scarlet Geranium, which would 
reach the top in five years, if it could be saved in winter; 
24, Wistaria sinensis again ; 25, “ Geranium hederifotium 
roseum ” the name, an otf-hand translation of “ Pink 
Ivy-leaf Geranium ” which is the true Pelargonium 
lateripics roseum of authors, and therefore one of the 
true Ivy-leaf, but not the pink Ivy-leaf of the flower- 
gardens. Aitons Pelargonium peltatim is the truest 
Ivy-leaf of all the Geraniums, and is the true pink Ivy- 
leaf bedder; while lateripes roseum is a much faster 
climber than the White Ivy-leaf, and is totally unfit for 
bedding-out; but it makes a splendid climber in a good 
greenhouse, running as wild as a Tacsonia, and flower¬ 
ing as freely as Tom Thumb after the pride of youth is 
subdued, when the flower-tufts and colour are so much 
better than out-of-doors; it was beautifully in bloom at 
I the Crystal Palace. There are six varieties of lateripjes 
and two of peltatum —the green and the variegated—all 
i the eight are Ivy-leafs, and two of them being pink Ivy- 
leafs, one a bedder, the other a climber, it will bo ncce.s- 
