24 
A FEW FLO WEES 
no dotting, but colonies and groups of lovely plants among the shrubs. Good preparation and some knowledge are needed 
here, but no necessity whatever for any but a system that may be called permanent. Overgrowth or accident will in time 
cause need for attention here and there, but that would be slight, and could be given autumn, winter, or spring. Properly 
done, such arrangements could be left for at least five years without any radical alteration. In the way above mentioned 
there are opportunities to grow in many large or medium-sized pleasure gardens all the nobler hardy plants introduced ; but 
to show the full security of the position here it may not be amiss to name a few other modes of arranging flowers which do 
not require annual planting and digging up. 
The true way for all who desire to make their gardens yield a return of beauty for the labor and skill bestowed 
upon them is the permanent one. Choose some beautiful class of plants and skillfully select a place that will suit them in 
all ways, not omitting their effect in the garden or the home landscape. Let the garden be as permanently and as well- 
planted as possible, so that beyond the ordinary cleaning there will remain little to be done for years. All plants will not 
EVENING PRIMROSES. (CENO'l'HERA.) 
lend themselves to such permanent plan, it is true, but such as do not may be grouped together and treated collectively — 
for instance, the beautiful beds or masses of Anemones, double and single ; the Turban and Persian Ranunculuses, the 
Clove Carnation, Stocks, Asters, and the finer annuals. All these, which no really good garden should be entirely without, 
do not lend themselves to such treatment, but preparation for them can be made to a great extent in the autumn, winter, or 
spring season, and no gardener will begrudge the attention necessary for such fine things if he has not the care of many 
thousand bedding plants. But a great many delightful plants can be planted permanently, either allowing them to arrange 
themselves, to group with others, or to loom among peat-loving shrubs, which, in hundreds of places, stand bare and 
unrelieved. Here and there, carrying out this plan, we might have planted tufts of Tritomas and Lilies, Irises and 
Gladioli, and many other lovely sorts among them. 
Large Beds.—One of the best reforms will be to keep away from the “ rug pattern," and adopt large and simple 
beds, placing singly or in groups, in positions suited to the plants they are to contain. Then these can be filled permanently, 
or partially so, with ease, because the planter is free to deal with them in a bolder and more artistic way, and has not to 
consider the necessity of making them correspond with a number of other things near them. In this way, also, the delight 
of flowers is much more keenly felt. One sees them relieved, sees them at different times, has to make a little journey to 
see them when they are not all under his window stereotyped Roses — favorites with everybody — grouped in their 
different classes, and not trained as standards, would lend themselves admirably for culture and grouping with other things. 
For instance, we might have Moss Roses growing 
out of a carpet of Primroses, Tea Roses with the 
Japanese Irises, which require warm soils, or 
Hybrid Perpetuals and the varied kinds of grand 
German Irises that are now obtainable. Lilies of 
the newer and finer kinds do not merely thrive in 
beds of Rhododendrons, but they afford in certain 
gardens the grandest effects I have ever seen, 
whether in garden, in glasshouse, or in wilderness. 
Then there are many groupings which could be 
made by the aid of the finer perennials themselves, 
such as, say, the splendid Delphiniums and hardy 
Phloxes, choosing things that would go well 
together, where the plants permitted it, finishing it 
with fringes of some other dwarf-like plants to hide 
the earth and the bare spaces by carpets of beau¬ 
tiful hardy flowers. Other plants, such as 
Yuccas, of which there are now a good many 
beautiful kinds, are, perhaps, best by themselves ; 
and noble groups they form, whether in flower or 
SEDUM SPECTABILE. 
