THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Athil 3, 1860. 
3 
tings. A circular bed six feet in diameter, and so planted 
at the Crystal Palace last year, barring the standards, 
was more talked about than any of their big scarlet-beds. 
These standards looked very much like standards of the 
tree Violet. 
Young plants of Lady Plymouth are the next best 
substitute for Dandy ; neither of them give flowers of any 
account, their sole beauty lies in their variegation. Young 
spring cuttings of the variegated Prince of Orange are 
the next best turn to imitate Dandy. Indeed, the three 
kinds, with the blue little Lobelia speciosa as above, 
would make a pretty pincushion. The silvery whiteness 
of the three contrast beautifully with the dark blue of the 
Lobelia. The dwarf variegated Geraniums, with yellow, 
purple, and scarlet in the leaves, as the Golden Chain , 
the Queen s Favourite, and all such, ought to be kept by 
themselves for mixtures, and not to be mixed with Dandy, 
Lady Plymouth, or variegated Prince of Orange, as the 
two strains would rather hurt each other by contrast. 
Christine makes an admirable edging to a bed of 
scarlets, or a row in a ribbon-border, or a bed by itself. 
It 13 the best of the strain of Lucia rosea. I have grown 
it for the last four years from a seedling of my own; the 
one I called Victoria Pose, and which I cancelled in 
favour of Mr. Kinghorn’s Christine. On a ribbon it 
should come next row after Golden Chain, not in front of 
it; but the plants should be small, and Harlcaioay should 
follow in the next row behind it: then a row of Paron 
J lug el ; then Aurea fioribunda Calceolaria, and Tom 
Thumb behind; Lady Middleton next ; then Cottaqe 
Maid, or Comp actum, or Punch ; but Cottage Maid would 
be best, on account of its horseshoe leaves. But in front 
of the Golden Chain there should be nine or ten inches of 
Lobelia speciosa, and six inches of young Cerastium 
tomentosum next the walk. Then, if the ribbon-border is 
wider than would take in all these rows, plant another 
row of the old purple Zclinda Dahlia; then a row of 
dwarf white Zclinda ; and last of all a row of the dwarfest 
of the variegated Dahlias. 
Generally, all Dahlias have hitherto been planted on 
the model of the florists—that is, without heads, or tails, 
or variation, or effect; but now that wo of The Cottage 
Gardener have converted our “ Florist Lords ” to the 
fashions of the fair, who before could never perceive 
variety, or contrast, or combination in “ a regular uniform 
mixture,” wo may go on and plant Dahlias as on ribbon- 
borders—a row of each colour, beginning with the lowest 
in front, and each succeeding row rising in a regular 
gradation up to five feet. Then six or seven kinds, in as 
many rows and colours, would give more effect than six 
or seven score on the “ uniform mixture ” plan and the 
model of the old Tulip-beds, which model was invented, 
probably, to puzzle the unwary. The old florists delighted 
in hidden mysteries ; but the march of intellect is now, 
happily, “forwards fast,” and we must keep up with it 
side by side w T ith our very best and next-door neighbours 
the florists. 
Verbenas will never look well in ribbon-lines except by 
themselves—only in the first row where any very dwarf 
kind would do, as their style of growth is so different 
from the Geraniums, and it is not easy to work Petunias 
in lines to correspond with Geraniums cither ; but plenty 
of hands and good trainers could do them both, yet the 
style of the ribbon would not be the first of the fashion. 
Diadematum Geraniums, however, do very well in the 
second or third row of a Geranium ribbon-style. 
A friend of mine has had the third row of Diadematum 
rubescens for the last seven or eight years, with Mangles' 
variegated closely trained on both sides of it; then 
scarlets, pinks, and cerise, and variegated kinds of Gera¬ 
niums here and there among them. 
What is most wanted now is a colouring for such as 
have no good flowers of their own, as Golden Chain and 
Lady Plymouth. The colouring would need to come 
from similar-habited plants. Get a seedling very near to 
the leaf, looks, and habit of the Golden Chain, and plant 
them plant for plant alternating in the row, or in a row 
close in front or just behind the Golden Chain, so as to 
appear but one row after all, and the arrangement is done ; 
but recollect, neither a green leaf nor a horseshoe leaf 
will do. 
Prilliant comes the nearest to what I mean, and there 
is a second kind of Brilliant, half very pale green, and 
half variegated leaves, which would do tolerably well if 
the plants were struck now, or were very small at turn¬ 
ing-out time; but the true Brilliant is too much white, 
and by the middle of August the white -would drown the 
gold colour completely. There is a Minimum Geranium 
which is to be tried for this effect with the Goldeii Chain, 
this season, at the Experimental, and if it answers it wiB 
not be put under a bushel, 
I once raised a Puchsia that would never rise but creep* 
along the ground like a Verbena. I also saw the first 
seedling which made the Weeping Larch, and it went 
exactly like that Fuchsia; it came in a bed of seedlings 
in the nursery of Mr. Godsal, at Hereford, and it ran 
along on the surface of the ground like a Strawberry- 
runner. How, in these days, when so many are breeding 
and cross-breeding, and getting up all manner of seed-- 
lings, what I would advise would be to take firm hold of 
any seedling that went out of the common run, and see' 
whether it would not put us on a new scent, or enable - us 
to mend our ways, by making it subservient to some of 
our present fancies. Something strange, or out of the' 
common, might thus be raised to make Lady Plymouth 
florid as a Pose in the front of a ribbon-border; but I have 
not seen anything yet that I should willingly put that 
way, and yet that very lady was the first which fixed that 
fancy in my noddle. Four years back, there was a bed 
of Lady Plymouth in the Experimental, not a large bed. 
It will never do in largo masses. One day some visitors 
were expected, some branches of the family, and some one 
unbeknown to us—to me at any rate—went and illustrated 
the bed of Lady Plymouth with cut trusses of Tom 
Thumb, and, if you believe me, the illustrations were done 
with such taste and judgment—just the right balance of 
colour, that for a day or two the bed was charming to 
look upon. If ever I saw a painted lady, that was- one 
indeed, and I never could get the effect out of my head 
to this day. Yet, if you recollect, the plan is not new. 
We put certain Verbenas in beds pf Cherry-pie, to give 
double the bloom of Heliotropes, and a bed of large 
plants of the Pose-scented Geranium ( gravcolens ), the 
mother of Lady Plymouth was one mass of bright scarlet 
blooms of Verbena Defiance, but that would not do near 
a walk, only in some corner far off, where one wanted a 
bit of colouring at haphazard. 
We must be all nodding in this country, else why 
should we not find out varieties and variations from seeds 
like continental folks from whom we receive fresh batches 
every year, such as they are P Just look over the seed 
lists of this spring, and see what I mean. Of mixed rows, 
the very best is still that which has been done for years, 
by Mr. Scott, of the Crewkerne Nurseries, in the west of 
England. I mean the front row of a ribbon-border, with 
the original Verbena melindris, which creeps low on the 
surface. Lobelia speciosa, or any of the freer seedlings 
of Lobelia erinus, of which erinoides counts three or four ; 
racemosoides of the florists—one at all events; and race- 
rnoides of the cross-breeders, .over a dozen kinds; and 
the variegated Alyssum, all mixed, plant for plant, along 
the first row. Mr. Scott offers the variegated Alyssum 
under Koniga maritima, like some others in the trade; 
but Alyssum is the right name, the plant being a con¬ 
stricted sport; and all such sports deviate, botanically, as 
much from their parents as our early Cabbages do from 
the native weeds whence they sprang; but we should not 
encourage false names like this, which were founded on 
misconceptions. But to make new plants should be the 
ambition of the young gardener, and a wide field for 
