If the garden is an old established one, the arranging and planting of the different beds will have been carried out many years previous, very possibly at the time the trees were planted, at the foundation of the garden, although there is no doubt they will have been subject to many alterations during the years that have elapsed since the time when the garden was first formed. But in this chapter it is with the planting and arranging of the various flowering plants in the beds of a garden that has been laid out on the principle recommended in an earlier chapter of this work—on the formation of the Topiary garden—that I intend chiefly to deal with.
THE COTTAGER’S PRIDE
The planting of the beds and their various contents is in the Topiary garden a very important part of the work, and one that requires both a great amount of skill and forethought, as to a great extent on the arranging of the various kinds of flowering plants in the different beds will depend the future beauty of the garden. Of course I do not mean to imply that the arrangement of the various beds is of as much importance as the planting of the trees, as they differ in this respect so far, that once the trees in a Topiary garden are planted, they should under no circumstances whatever be altered; but in the case of the beds, they may be subject to many alterations, as circumstances may occur. The yew by itself is not a very bright or attractive tree, but when you see it planted in the Topiary garden and clipped into all kinds of unique shapes and figures, and all the available space in the beds is utilised for the purpose of massing either herbaceous or bedding plants, the effect is extremely beautiful; it is then that one sees a garden with a charm and beauty about it that is very seldom if ever met with in the more modern garden.
It is quite evident that, in most of the old formal gardens, glass accommodation has never to any great extent been considered necessary. Yet there is nothing of more importance to the gardener in charge of a large Topiary garden than plenty of glass accommodation for storing the various bedding plants during winter and spring. In former years both the persons who owned the Topiary gardens, and the gardeners as well, seem to have depended to a great extent on the different varieties of annuals for the embellishment of their gardens. But annuals in a garden such as the one I am speaking of, never have the same effect among the yews as the more bright and showy bedding plants. I quite agree with a great many people in their contention that glass structures are altogether out of place in the Topiary garden. But provision should be made for them in some way or other, and as a rule some place can be found for the erection of a few houses without clashing with the other features of the garden.
If the garden has been laid out on a large scale, and contains a quantity of large beds, as regards the work of arranging and deciding what each bed is to be planted with, the person who is responsible will have to be guided by circumstances to a certain extent according to the accommodation that is already at hand, or is to be provided for the raising of bedding plants.
In every garden, and especially in the Topiary garden, the beds should be so arranged that they will yield as far as possible a continual show of bloom for as many months of the year as flowers will bloom in the garden. A continual supply of bloom for the longest possible time is the principal object to be aimed at. Of course in the arrangement of the beds it will be necessary to plant some of them with herbaceous plants; others may be planted with roses; as both roses and herbaceous plants look well in any garden. But in the using of perennial plants of any kind, I would strongly recommend that they should be planted more in the background and in large borders, instead of in the more important beds in the garden. These last should be reserved for bedding plants, as no matter whether roses, or any other kind of plants, be used, the same brilliant and desirable effect can never be obtained as is to be had from the more showy and more easily massed bedding plants. In the planting of herbaceous or any variety of plants, exceptional care should be taken to keep the plants far enough away from the trees, so as to avoid all injurious effects from the summer’s growth coming in contact with the yews. If the practice of planting close up to the trees is followed, on purpose to avoid bare patches in the borders, the result will be disastrous to the more important part of the garden, viz., the Topiary work. But as bare patches are always unsightly in the border, they should be avoided as far as possible by planting the very dwarf growing herbaceous plants in close proximity to the trees. It is a plan that can very well be followed in perennial planting, but it is more difficult to manage in the more important work of bedding out for the summer months, especially if large and tall growing plants are extensively used.
A SWAN CUT IN BOX AT COMPTON WYNYATES
