15 AUGUST 1947, Page 18

In My Garden A question with which both professional critics

and amateur experiment, is how to cover or qualify the bareness of the earth about the bedded roses. Among those who used a complete carpet, both for comeliness and the good of the roses, was W. Robinson of The English Flower Garden. A sub rosa plant that gives a very pleasing effect is the phacelia in' any of the more dwarf sorts ; and in one model garden of my acquaintance it seeds freely and year after year vastly increases the beauty of the beds. Few other plants boast a purer blue. There is much to be said for such carpet purposes for the ordinary gracilis viola, which is particu- larly well fitted for preserving dampness and so acting as a living mulch.

W. BEACH THOMAS.