Abstract
THIS volume is a sequel to the valuable works which Mr. Robinson has already given us— “The Wild Garden,” and “Alpine Flowers for English Gardens.” The title is a misleading one, and is thus defined by the author:— “Sub-tropical gardening means the culture of plants with large and graceful or remarkable foliage or habit, and the association of them with the usually low-growing and brillitnt flowering-plants now so common in our gardens, and which frequently eradicate every trace of beauty of form therein, making the flower-garden a thing of large masses of colour only.” It is a pity that Mr. Robinson has assisted to perpetuate so erroneous a designation, which conveys the idea of the culture of tender plants fitted only for our hothouses. The greater part of the volume is occupied with an alphabetical list of plants suitable for the above purpose, with description of the peculiarities of their foliage, mode of cultivation, and propagation, &c. The accompanying cut is intended to suggest the effects to be obtained from young and vigorous specimens of hardy, fine-leaved trees. In all these points Mr. Robinson may be safely followed as a guide, combining great practical knowledge of gardening, an extensive acquaintance with the native habits of plants, and an artist's eye to the beauty of form and combination. The following sentence gives his idea of what gardening should be. “Nature, in puris naturalibus, we cannot have in our gardens, but Nature's laws should not be violated; and few human beings have contravened them more than our flower-gardeners during the past twenty years. We should compose them from Nature, as landscape artists do. We may have in our gardens, and without making wildernesses of them either, all the shade, the relief, the grace, the beauty, and nearly all the irregularity of Nature.”
The Sub-tropical Garden; or Beauty of Form in the Flower-Garden.
By W. Robinson, F.L.S. With Illustrations. (London: Murray, 1871.)
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B., A. The Sub-tropical Garden; or Beauty of Form in the Flower-Garden . Nature 4, 159 (1871). https://doi.org/10.1038/004159a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/004159a0