RHS New Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers

The Flower Expert

From the 'Handy Book of the Flower-Garden' (1868) by David Thomson

>  First page of Introduction to the Victorian Flower Garden

The comparatively shortlived display is one of the arguments which has been often urged against composing our flower-gardens entirely of half-hardy plants:- that it would be much less objectionable could the season of full bloom be greatly protracted. It is to my mind questionable whether this be either a well-founded or philosophical ground of objection. Such an objection need not necessarily exist. Vacant beds can be filled up at once with abundant material for an early spring display, or even with a variety of beautifully ornamented shrubs where families are resident in winter. Both systems, as circumstances demand, are now practised, and in these ways the bareness is more effectively remedied than is possible when the summer and autumn shows are principally dependent on permanent herbaceous plants. The argument is consequently not well founded; neither is it philosophical. Would the charm of our summer and autumn galaxy of bloom not cease to produce those pleasant emotions with which it is contemplated, were it possible to sustain its sameness all the year To the attentive eye, each change in the seasons brings its own peculiar beauty and charm. If, instead of change, we had one continuity of song, leafy woodland, and flowery garden, would it not become monotonous, and cease to be a source of exquisite pleasure to the mind? Lovers of flowers ought to be thankful that the year and the human heart have room for changes.

Vulgarity is one of the epithets which have been applied to the present style, and I will not undertake to say this is not in some cases correct. But that does not prove anything beyond the fact, that the art of disposing of flowers in beds and borders is not correctly understood by all. Such, however, cannot be accepted as proof that the most chaste and refined effects cannot be, and are not, produced by disposing of masses and lines of plants with various shades of colour. Properly worked out and understood, the pleasure of the parterre becomes one of intellect; and long may it form a part of our gardens! Its object is, in some cases, I fear, confounded with purely botanical science; but it is folly to contrast or compare the one with the other.

If the first attempts at grouping, with the view to contrast and harmonize their colours, were hailed as at least a most desirable feature in flower-gardens at a time when suitable plants were much less plentiful than they are now, and when the art of disposing of them effectively was in its infancy, it would surely be a great and desirable feature lost were the whole thing, in its now improved condition, swept away, as some have predicted that it will be.

The object of the following pages is to give plain practical instructions how to propagate and cultivate such plants as are suitable for the grouping system, as well as for mixed arrangements of hardy and half-hardy plants, and practical illustrations of grouping them in various ways beside the humble cot and lordly hall. And I am happy to think that many of our hardy plants, as well as bulbs and annuals, that can be managed with the feeblest resources, are among the most effective for planting in masses and lines. These have, therefore, the additional recommendation of being available, not only by the wealthy, but by the many, with the simple plot before the door. These latter, as well as the well-to-do amateur, with perhaps a tiny greenhouse and frame, are included among the objects of the following pages; for I conceive that it is erroneous to estimate the merits of, or the pleasure derivable from, a flower-garden, more by its extent than by its arrangement and keep. One bed well planted and well kept will be more a fountain of pleasure than an incongruous jumble, however extensive. Mere extent in flower-gardening, without a proper order of things, becomes only the more ridiculous and repulsive in proportion to its extent. My purpose, therefore, in this treatise, is to embrace the many; and I trust what I have to say may, however feebly, help forward and stimulate in the proper pursuit of an object that may be reckoned among those which afford the most wholesome relaxation and the purest of earthly enjoyments.

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Good Gardens by Design: The Principles of Classic Planning and Plant Selection