. My garden, its plan and culture together with a general description of its geology, botany, and natural history. Gardening. 234 MY GARDEN. A very showy flower, the Peony (fig. 460), blossoms at the end of May. There are many varieties ; they are more remarkable for their size than for their beauty. I have had various plants, but never have been satisfied with any of them. There are many fine kinds which will hardly flower in our climate. The Chinese and Japanese are reputed to possess endless varieties of these flowers. The Gunnera scabra is a remarkable plant, with ornamental leaves somewha
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. My garden, its plan and culture together with a general description of its geology, botany, and natural history. Gardening. 234 MY GARDEN. A very showy flower, the Peony (fig. 460), blossoms at the end of May. There are many varieties ; they are more remarkable for their size than for their beauty. I have had various plants, but never have been satisfied with any of them. There are many fine kinds which will hardly flower in our climate. The Chinese and Japanese are reputed to possess endless varieties of these flowers. The Gunnera scabra is a remarkable plant, with ornamental leaves somewhat re- sembling those of rhubarb. It likes a moist situation, and it requires protection from Fig. 460.—Peony. severe frost.. " O perennial flowers. In single breath your odours manifold Breathe now."—Dante, Paradise. BEDDING PLANTS. For summer garden decoration we have recourse to what are termed Bedding Plants. These are at once the blessing and the curse of a garden. They are a blessing, as they give to geometric flower-beds a display of thousands of brilliant flowers for four months in the year, and the plants themselves are regular in their growth. Nevertheless they are a curse, as they are so easily grown that they have gradually .superseded all those plants which our forefathers used to cultivate and admire. I have seen flower-beds under the drawing-room window of a mansion where numerous gardeners were kept, without one plant to adorn the vacant ground till the end of May, the whole decoration being confined to summer, and centred in a few kinds of bedding plants, in some whimsical ornamental arrangements of colours. At the present time all gardens look alike; the inevitable gaudy Scarlet Geranium flourishes to the exclusion of hundreds of little gems which should have their place in the garden of every lover of natural objects; and,. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability -