The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-11-12 00:00:00

Igrtrultural aiib 3Lyirtiritltural.

One of the chief duties of the horticultural writer is
to remind his readers of work to be performed at the
proper time; one half the suggestions offered by theorists
are thrown away in consequence of their being mistimed ;
thus, for instance, to live full directions for the winter
management of a greenhouse at a time when the glorious
summers sun has almost made us! orget, in the beauties of
the flower-garden, not only the necessity for but even the
existence of the greenhouse—would be very unlikely to
do much good, the advice would be forgotten, and pro-
bably would not be remembered when the time came.
There is one hint which we wish to give our readers, and
the time is perfectly suited ; we forget who was the author
of it, or we would gladly record his name, for it is one of
those suggestions which have been appreciated by every
intelligent gardener ; in fact it has become a part of the
art of gardening. Just at this season of the year the
flower-garden, which has been brilliant with flowers of
every hue during the summer and autumn, becomes ex-
ceedingly cheerless from the total absence of vegetation
in the beds, we allude to those gardens where plants are
put out in masses, and being only half hardy are entirely
cut off by the frost, or removed into winter quarters.
These beds remain empty until the succeeding June, or
at the most are relieved by a few spring bulbs. Further-
more such beds are usually near the house, or in some
prominent situation, so that their winter bareness is
doubly irksome. The suegestion we alluded to, and
would strongly recommend to our readers, is to have a
number of dwarf evergreens, in pots, ready to fill these
beds as soon as they are cleared of their summer decora-
tions. Such plants can be had in abundance at the
various nurseries, and by a judicious mixture of sorts,
not forgetting those with variegated foliage, a degree of
beauty may be kept during the winter season which will
almost equal that of summer, though of a different cha-
racter. Further we would add that this suggestion may
be improved upon greatly by a little ingenuity; for in-
stance, suppose a bed be covered with a few plants of
Cotoneaster which, notwithstanding its greaf
beauty as a prostrate shrub, is nevertheless of a sombre
colour, yet it may be greatly enlivened by plunging at the
same time a number of pots containing snowdrops and
differently-coloured crocuses, which will push through
the trailing branches of the Cotoneaster, and give great
life to the bed. A circular form would best suit plants of
a trailing or prostrate habit. Other beds may be filled
with the common and variegated box, Cupressus torulo-
sus, Aucuba Japonica, the Balearic Box, Ruscus aculea-
tus, Vaccinium Vitis idea, Gaultheria procumbens, the
various species of hardy heaths, particularly Erica her-
bacea carnea, dwarf Rhododendrons, such as R. ferrugi-
neum, R. chamsesistus, the spreading junipers, Dwarf
Arbor-vitae, Phyllyrea, Arbutus, Laurustinus, and others.
Of course only small well-formed plants should be chosen,
and there would be no difficulty in finding an abundance
of such specimens in any respectable nursery. They can.
be removed to some place in the summer, and the pots
re-plunged into some old tan, or other plunging material.
Of course in filling beds with pots of evergreens the pots
should be placed in conformity with the shape of the
bed ; a great improvement may be effected by leaving out
a shrub at intervals, in the outward line, and replacing it
with a pot of bulbs ; if the shrubs are rather tall choose
such bulbs as Narcissus, Jonquil, Hyacinths, &c., if
naturally dwarf, crocuses, snowdrops, squills, anemonies,
Van Tohl tulips, &c., would be most suitable. These are
only general directions ; a clever gardener, who takes the
matter in hand, cannot fail to improve upon it, and di-
versify it considerably.