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diff --git a/36279.txt b/36279.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1e607dc --- /dev/null +++ b/36279.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8272 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Wood and Garden, by Gertrude Jekyll + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Wood and Garden + Notes and thoughts, practical and critical, of a working amateur + +Author: Gertrude Jekyll + +Release Date: June 1, 2011 [EBook #36279] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WOOD AND GARDEN *** + + + + +Produced by StevenGibbs, Tracey-Ann Mayor and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + WOOD AND GARDEN + + [Illustration: _Frontispiece._] + + + + + WOOD AND GARDEN + + NOTES AND THOUGHTS, PRACTICAL AND + CRITICAL, OF A WORKING AMATEUR + + By + + GERTRUDE JEKYLL + + _With 71 Illustrations from Photographs + by the Author_ + + [Illustration] + + Second Edition + + Longmans, Green, and Co. + 39 Paternoster Row, London + New York and Bombay + + 1899 + + _All rights reserved_ + + + + + Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. + At the Ballantyne Press + + + + +PREFACE + + +From its simple nature, this book seems scarcely to need any prefatory +remarks, with the exception only of certain acknowledgments. + +A portion of the contents (about one-third) appeared during the years +1896 and 1897 in the pages of the _Guardian_, as "Notes from Garden and +Woodland." I am indebted to the courtesy of the editor and proprietors +of that journal for permission to republish these notes. + +The greater part of the photographs from which the illustrations have +been prepared were done on my own ground--a space of some fifteen acres. +Some of them, owing to my want of technical ability as a photographer, +were very weak, and have only been rendered available by the skill of +the reproducer, for whose careful work my thanks are due. + +A small number of the photographs were done for reproduction in +wood-engraving for Mr. Robinson's _Garden_, _Gardening Illustrated_, and +_English Flower Garden_. I have his kind permission to use the original +plates. + + G. J. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER I + + INTRODUCTORY 1-6 + + CHAPTER II + + JANUARY 7-18 + + Beauty of woodland in winter -- The nut-walk -- + Thinning the overgrowth -- A nut nursery -- _Iris + stylosa_ -- Its culture -- Its home in Algeria -- + Discovery of the white variety -- Flowers and branches + for indoor decoration. + + CHAPTER III + + FEBRUARY 19-31 + + Distant promise of summer -- Ivy-berries -- Coloured + leaves -- _Berberis Aquifolium_ -- Its many merits -- + Thinning and pruning shrubs -- Lilacs -- Removing + Suckers -- Training _Clematis flammula_ -- Forms of + trees -- Juniper, a neglected native evergreen -- + Effect of snow -- Power of recovery -- Beauty of colour + -- Moss-grown stems. + + CHAPTER IV + + MARCH 32-45 + + Flowering bulbs -- Dog-tooth Violet -- Rock-garden -- + Variety of Rhododendron foliage -- A beautiful old + kind -- Suckers on grafted plants -- Plants for + filling up the beds -- Heaths -- Andromedas -- Lady + Fern -- _Lilium auratum_ -- Pruning Roses -- Training + and tying climbing plants -- Climbing and free-growing + Roses -- The Vine the best wall-covering -- Other + climbers -- Wild Clematis -- Wild Rose. + + CHAPTER V + + APRIL 46-58 + + Woodland spring flowers -- Daffodils in the copse -- + Grape Hyacinths and other spring bulbs -- How best to + plant them -- Flowering shrubs -- Rock-plants -- Sweet + scents of April -- Snowy Mespilus, Marsh Marigolds, + and other spring flowers -- Primrose garden -- Pollen + of Scotch Fir -- Opening seed-pods of Fir and Gorse -- + Auriculas -- Tulips -- Small shrubs for rock-garden -- + Daffodils as cut flowers -- Lent Hellebores -- + Primroses -- Leaves of wild Arum. + + CHAPTER VI + + MAY 59-76 + + Cowslips -- Morells -- Woodruff -- Felling oak timber -- + Trillium and other wood-plants -- Lily of the Valley + naturalised -- Rock-wall flowers -- Two good wall-shrubs + -- Queen wasps -- Rhododendrons -- Arrangement for colour + -- Separate colour-groups -- Difficulty of choosing -- + Hardy Azaleas -- Grouping flowers that bloom together -- + Guelder-rose as climber -- The garden-wall door -- The + Paeony garden -- Moutans -- Paeony varieties -- Species + desirable for garden. + + CHAPTER VII + + JUNE 77-88 + + The gladness of June -- The time of Roses -- Garden + Roses -- Reine Blanche -- The old white Rose -- Old + garden Roses as standards -- Climbing and rambling Roses + -- Scotch Briars -- Hybrid Perpetuals a difficulty -- + Tea Roses -- Pruning -- Sweet Peas autumn sown -- + Elder-trees -- Virginian Cowslip -- Dividing + spring-blooming plants -- Two best Mulleins -- White + French Willow -- Bracken. + + CHAPTER VIII + + JULY 89-99 + + Scarcity of flowers -- Delphiniums -- Yuccas -- + Cottager's way of protecting tender plants -- + Alstroemerias -- Carnations -- Gypsophila -- _Lilium + giganteum_ -- Cutting fern-pegs. + + CHAPTER IX + + AUGUST 100-111 + + Leycesteria -- Early recollections -- Bank of choice + shrubs -- Bank of Briar Roses -- Hollyhocks -- Lavender + -- Lilies -- Bracken and Heaths -- The Fern-walk -- + Late-blooming rock-plants -- Autumn flowers -- Tea Roses + -- Fruit of _Rosa rugosa_ -- Fungi -- Chantarelle. + + CHAPTER X + + SEPTEMBER 112-124 + + Sowing Sweet Peas -- Autumn-sown annuals -- Dahlias -- + Worthless kinds -- Staking -- Planting the rock-garden + -- Growing small plants in a wall -- The old wall -- + Dry-walling -- How built -- How planted -- Hyssop -- A + destructive storm -- Berries of Water-elder -- Beginning + ground-work. + + CHAPTER XI + + OCTOBER 125-143 + + Michaelmas Daisies -- Arranging and staking -- + Spindle-tree -- Autumn colour of Azaleas -- Quinces -- + Medlars -- Advantage of early planting of shrubs -- + Careful planting -- Pot-bound roots -- Cypress hedge + -- Planting in difficult places -- Hardy flower border + -- Lifting Dahlias -- Dividing hardy plants -- + Dividing tools -- Plants difficult to divide -- + Periwinkles -- Sternbergia -- Czar Violets -- Deep + cultivation for _Lilium giganteum_. + + CHAPTER XII + + NOVEMBER 144-157 + + Giant Christmas Rose -- Hardy Chrysanthemums -- + Sheltering tender shrubs -- Turfing by inoculation -- + Transplanting large trees -- Sir Henry Steuart's + experience early in the century -- Collecting fallen + leaves -- Preparing grubbing tools -- Butcher's Broom + -- Alexandrian Laurel -- Hollies and Birches -- A + lesson in planting. + + CHAPTER XIII + + DECEMBER 158-170 + + The woodman at work -- Tree-cutting in frosty weather + -- Preparing sticks and stakes -- Winter Jasmine -- + Ferns in the wood-walk -- Winter colour of evergreen + shrubs -- Copse-cutting -- Hoop-making -- Tools used + -- Sizes of hoops -- Men camping out -- Thatching with + hoop-chips -- The old thatcher's bill. + + CHAPTER XIV + + LARGE AND SMALL GARDENS 171-187 + + A well done villa-garden -- A small town-garden -- Two + delightful gardens of small size -- Twenty acres + within the walls -- A large country house and its + garden -- Terrace -- Lawn -- Parterre -- Free garden + -- Kitchen garden -- Buildings -- Ornamental orchard + -- Instructive mixed gardens -- Mr. Wilson's at Wisley + -- A window garden. + + CHAPTER XV + + BEGINNING AND LEARNING 188-199 + + The ignorant questioner -- Beginning at the end -- An + example -- Personal experience -- Absence of outer + help -- Johns' "Flowers of the Field" -- Collecting + plants -- Nurseries near London -- Wheel-spokes as + labels -- Garden friends -- Mr. Robinson's "English + Flower-Garden" -- Mr. Nicholson's "Dictionary of + Gardening" -- One main idea desirable -- Pictorial + treatment -- Training in fine art -- Adapting from + Nature -- Study of colour -- Ignorant use of the word + "artistic." + + CHAPTER XVI + + THE FLOWER-BORDER AND PERGOLA 200-215 + + The flower-border -- The wall and its occupants -- + _Choisya ternata_ -- Nandina -- Canon Ellacombe's + garden -- Treatment of colour-masses -- Arrangement of + plants in the border -- Dahlias and Cannas -- Covering + bare places -- The Pergola -- How made -- Suitable + climbers -- Arbours of trained Planes -- Garden + houses. + + CHAPTER XVII + + THE PRIMROSE GARDEN 216-220 + + CHAPTER XVIII + + COLOURS OF FLOWERS 221-228 + + CHAPTER XIX + + THE SCENTS OF THE GARDEN 229-240 + + CHAPTER XX + + THE WORSHIP OF FALSE GODS 241-248 + + CHAPTER XXI + + NOVELTY AND VARIETY 249-255 + + CHAPTER XXII + + WEEDS AND PESTS 256-262 + + CHAPTER XXIII + + THE BEDDING FASHION AND ITS INFLUENCE 263-270 + + CHAPTER XXIV + + MASTERS AND MEN 271-279 + + INDEX 280 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + FRONTISPIECE _face title_ + + A WILD JUNIPER _face page_ 19 + + SCOTCH FIRS THROWN ON TO FROZEN WATER BY SNOWSTORM " 27 + + OLD JUNIPER, SHOWING FORMER INJURIES " 29 + + JUNIPER, LATELY WRECKED BY SNOWSTORM " 29 + + GARDEN DOOR-WAY WREATHED WITH CLEMATIS GRAVEOLENS " 39 + + COTTAGE PORCH WREATHED WITH THE DOUBLE WHITE ROSE + (_R. alba_) " 39 + + WILD HOP, ENTWINING WORMWOOD AND COW-PARSNIP " 43 + + DAFFODILS IN THE COPSE " 48 + + MAGNOLIA STELLATA " 50 + + DAFFODILS AMONG JUNIPERS WHERE GARDEN JOINS COPSE " 51 + + TIARELLA CORDIFOLIA " 53 + + HOLLYHOCK, PINK BEAUTY. (_See page 105_) " 53 + + TULIPA RETROFLEXA " 55 + + LATE SINGLE TULIPS, BREEDERS AND BYBLOEMEN " 55 + + TRILLIUM IN THE WILD GARDEN " 61 + + RHODODENDRONS WHERE THE COPSE AND GARDEN MEET " 65 + + GRASS WALKS THROUGH THE COPSE " 66 + + RHODODENDRONS AT THE EDGE OF THE COPSE " 68 + + SOUTH SIDE OF DOOR, WITH CLEMATIS MONTANA + AND CHOISYA " 72 + + NORTH SIDE OF THE SAME DOOR, WITH CLEMATIS + MONTANA AND GUELDER-ROSE " 72 + + FREE CLUSTER-ROSE AS STANDARD IN A COTTAGE GARDEN " 77 + + DOUBLE WHITE SCOTCH BRIAR " 81 + + PART OF A BUSH OF ROSA POLYANTHA " 82 + + GARLAND-ROSE SHOWING NATURAL WAY OF GROWTH " 82 + + LILAC MARIE LEGRAYE (_See page 23_) " 84 + + FLOWERING ELDER AND PATH FROM GARDEN TO COPSE " 84 + + THE GIANT LILY " 96 + + CISTUS FLORENTINUS " 101 + + THE GREAT ASPHODEL " 101 + + LAVENDER HEDGE AND STEPS TO THE LOFT " 105 + + HOLLYHOCK, PINK BEAUTY " 105 + + SOLOMON'S SEAL IN SPRING, IN THE UPPER PART + OF THE FERN-WALK " 107 + + THE FERN-WALK IN AUGUST " 107 + + JACK (_See page 79_) " 117 + + THE "OLD WALL" " 117 + + ERINUS ALPINUS, CLOTHING STEPS IN ROCK-WALL " 121 + + BORDERS OF MICHAELMAS DAISIES " 126 + + PENS FOR STORING DEAD LEAVES " 150 + + CAREFUL WILD-GARDENING--WHITE FOXGLOVES AT + THE EDGE OF THE FIR WOOD. (_See page 270_) " 150 + + HOLLY STEMS IN AN OLD HEDGE-ROW " 153 + + WILD JUNIPERS " 154 + + WILD JUNIPERS " 156 + + THE WOODMAN " 158 + + GRUBBING A TREE-STUMP " 161 + + FELLING AND GRUBBING TOOLS (_See page 150_) " 161 + + HOOP-MAKING IN THE WOODS " 167 + + HOOP-SHAVING " 169 + + SHED-ROOF, THATCHED WITH HOOP-CHIP " 169 + + GARLAND-ROSE WREATHING THE END OF A TERRACE WALL " 178 + + A ROADSIDE COTTAGE GARDEN " 185 + + A FLOWER-BORDER IN JUNE " 200 + + PATHWAY ACROSS THE SOUTH BORDER IN JULY " 202 + + OUTSIDE VIEW OF THE BRICK PERGOLA SHOWN + AT PAGE 214, AFTER SIX YEARS' GROWTH " 202 + + END OF FLOWER-BORDER AND ENTRANCE OF PERGOLA " 210 + + SOUTH BORDER DOOR AND YUCCAS IN AUGUST " 210 + + STONE-BUILT PERGOLA WITH WROUGHT OAK BEAMS " 214 + + PERGOLA WITH BRICK PIERS AND BEAMS OF ROUGH OAK " 214 + + EVENING IN THE PRIMROSE GARDEN " 217 + + TALL SNAPDRAGONS GROWING IN A DRY WALL " 251 + + MULLEINS GROWING IN THE FACE OF DRY WALL + (_See "Old Wall," page 116_) " 251 + + GERANIUMS IN NEAPOLITAN POTS " 267 + + SPACE IN STEP AND TANK-GARDEN FOR LILIES, + CANNAS, AND GERANIUMS " 268 + + HYDRANGEAS IN TUBS, IN A PART OF THE SAME GARDEN " 268 + + MULLEIN (VERBASCUM PHLOMOIDES) AT THE EDGE + OF THE FIR WOOD " 270 + + A GRASS PATH IN THE COPSE " 270 + + + + +WOOD AND GARDEN + + + + +CHAPTER I + +INTRODUCTORY + + +There are already many and excellent books about gardening; but the love +of a garden, already so deeply implanted in the English heart, is so +rapidly growing, that no excuse is needed for putting forth another. + +I lay no claim either to literary ability, or to botanical knowledge, or +even to knowing the best practical methods of cultivation; but I have +lived among outdoor flowers for many years, and have not spared myself +in the way of actual labour, and have come to be on closely intimate and +friendly terms with a great many growing things, and have acquired +certain instincts which, though not clearly defined, are of the nature +of useful knowledge. + +But the lesson I have thoroughly learnt, and wish to pass on to others, +is to know the enduring happiness that the love of a garden gives. I +rejoice when I see any one, and especially children, inquiring about +flowers, and wanting gardens of their own, and carefully working in +them. For the love of gardening is a seed that once sown never dies, but +always grows and grows to an enduring and ever-increasing source of +happiness. + +If in the following chapters I have laid special stress upon gardening +for beautiful effect, it is because it is the way of gardening that I +love best, and understand most of, and that seems to me capable of +giving the greatest amount of pleasure. I am strongly for treating +garden and wooded ground in a pictorial way, mainly with large effects, +and in the second place with lesser beautiful incidents, and for so +arranging plants and trees and grassy spaces that they look happy and at +home, and make no parade of conscious effort. I try for beauty and +harmony everywhere, and especially for harmony of colour. A garden so +treated gives the delightful feeling of repose, and refreshment, and +purest enjoyment of beauty, that seems to my understanding to be the +best fulfilment of its purpose; while to the diligent worker its +happiness is like the offering of a constant hymn of praise. For I hold +that the best purpose of a garden is to give delight and to give +refreshment of mind, to soothe, to refine, and to lift up the heart in a +spirit of praise and thankfulness. It is certain that those who practise +gardening in the best ways find it to be so. + +But the scope of practical gardening covers a range of horticultural +practice wide enough to give play to every variety of human taste. Some +find their greatest pleasure in collecting as large a number as possible +of all sorts of plants from all sources, others in collecting them +themselves in their foreign homes, others in making rock-gardens, or +ferneries, or peat-gardens, or bog-gardens, or gardens for conifers or +for flowering shrubs, or special gardens of plants and trees with +variegated or coloured leaves, or in the cultivation of some particular +race or family of plants. Others may best like wide lawns with large +trees, or wild gardening, or a quite formal garden, with trim hedge and +walk, and terrace, and brilliant parterre, or a combination of several +ways of gardening. And all are right and reasonable and enjoyable to +their owners, and in some way or degree helpful to others. + +The way that seems to me most desirable is again different, and I have +made an attempt to describe it in some of its aspects. But I have +learned much, and am always learning, from other people's gardens, and +the lesson I have learned most thoroughly is, never to say "I +know"--there is so infinitely much to learn, and the conditions of +different gardens vary so greatly, even when soil and situation appear +to be alike and they are in the same district. Nature is such a subtle +chemist that one never knows what she is about, or what surprises she +may have in store for us. + +Often one sees in the gardening papers discussions about the treatment +of some particular plant. One man writes to say it can only be done one +way, another to say it can only be done quite some other way, and the +discussion waxes hot and almost angry, and the puzzled reader, perhaps +as yet young in gardening, cannot tell what to make of it. And yet the +two writers are both able gardeners, and both absolutely trustworthy, +only they should have said, "In my experience _in this place_ such a +plant can only be done in such a way." Even plants of the same family +will not do equally well in the same garden. Every practical gardener +knows this in the case of strawberries and potatoes; he has to find out +which kinds will do in his garden; the experience of his friend in the +next county is probably of no use whatever. + +I have learnt much from the little cottage gardens that help to make our +English waysides the prettiest in the temperate world. One can hardly go +into the smallest cottage garden without learning or observing something +new. It may be some two plants growing beautifully together by some +happy chance, or a pretty mixed tangle of creepers, or something that +one always thought must have a south wall doing better on an east one. +But eye and brain must be alert to receive the impression and studious +to store it, to add to the hoard of experience. And it is important to +train oneself to have a good flower-eye; to be able to see at a glance +what flowers are good and which are unworthy, and why, and to keep an +open mind about it; not to be swayed by the petty tyrannies of the +"florist" or show judge; for, though some part of his judgment may be +sound, he is himself a slave to rules, and must go by points which are +defined arbitrarily and rigidly, and have reference mainly to the +show-table, leaving out of account, as if unworthy of consideration, +such matters as gardens and garden beauty, and human delight, and +sunshine, and varying lights of morning and evening and noonday. But +many, both nurserymen and private people, devote themselves to growing +and improving the best classes of hardy flowers, and we can hardly offer +them too much grateful praise, or do them too much honour. For what +would our gardens be without the Roses, Paeonies, and Gladiolus of +France, and the Tulips and Hyacinths of Holland, to say nothing of the +hosts of good things raised by our home growers, and of the enterprise +of the great firms whose agents are always searching the world for +garden treasures? + +Let no one be discouraged by the thought of how much there is to learn. +Looking back upon nearly thirty years of gardening (the earlier part of +it in groping ignorance with scant means of help), I can remember no +part of it that was not full of pleasure and encouragement. For the +first steps are steps into a delightful Unknown, the first successes are +victories all the happier for being scarcely expected, and with the +growing knowledge comes the widening outlook, and the comforting sense +of an ever-increasing gain of critical appreciation. Each new step +becomes a little surer, and each new grasp a little firmer, till, little +by little, comes the power of intelligent combination, the nearest +thing we can know to the mighty force of creation. + +And a garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful +watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all, it teaches +entire trust. "Paul planteth and Apollos watereth, but God giveth the +increase." The good gardener knows with absolute certainty that if he +does his part, if he gives the labour, the love, and every aid that his +knowledge of his craft, experience of the conditions of his place, and +exercise of his personal wit can work together to suggest, that so +surely as he does this diligently and faithfully, so surely will God +give the increase. Then with the honestly-earned success comes the +consciousness of encouragement to renewed effort, and, as it were, an +echo of the gracious words, "Well done, good and faithful servant." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +JANUARY + +Beauty of woodland in winter -- The nut-walk -- Thinning the overgrowth +-- A nut nursery -- _Iris stylosa_ -- Its culture -- Its home in Algeria +-- Discovery of the white variety -- Flowers and branches for indoor +decoration. + + +A hard frost is upon us. The thermometer registered eighteen degrees +last night, and though there was only one frosty night next before it, +the ground is hard frozen. Till now a press of other work has stood in +the way of preparing protecting stuff for tender shrubs, but now I go up +into the copse with a man and chopping tools to cut out some of the +Scotch fir that are beginning to crowd each other. + +How endlessly beautiful is woodland in winter! To-day there is a thin +mist; just enough to make a background of tender blue mystery three +hundred yards away, and to show any defect in the grouping of near +trees. No day could be better for deciding which trees are to come down; +there is not too much at a time within sight; just one good picture-full +and no more. On a clear day the eye and mind are distracted by seeing +away into too many planes, and it is much more difficult to decide what +is desirable in the way of broad treatment of nearer objects. + +The ground has a warm carpet of pale rusty fern; tree-stem and branch +and twig show tender colour-harmonies of grey bark and silver-grey +lichen, only varied by the warm feathery masses of birch spray. Now the +splendid richness of the common holly is more than ever impressive, with +its solid masses of full, deep colour, and its wholesome look of perfect +health and vigour. Sombrely cheerful, if one may use such a mixture of +terms; sombre by reason of the extreme depth of tone, and yet cheerful +from the look of glad life, and from the assurance of warm shelter and +protecting comfort to bird and beast and neighbouring vegetation. The +picture is made complete by the slender shafts of the silver-barked +birches, with their half-weeping heads of delicate, warm-coloured spray. +Has any tree so graceful a way of throwing up its stems as the birch? +They seem to leap and spring into the air, often leaning and curving +upward from the very root, sometimes in forms that would be almost +grotesque were it not for the never-failing rightness of free-swinging +poise and perfect balance. The tints of the stem give a precious lesson +in colour. The white of the bark is here silvery-white and there +milk-white, and sometimes shows the faintest tinge of rosy flush. Where +the bark has not yet peeled, the stem is clouded and banded with +delicate grey, and with the silver-green of lichen. For about two feet +upward from the ground, in the case of young trees of about seven to +nine inches diameter, the bark is dark in colour, and lies in thick and +extremely rugged upright ridges, contrasting strongly with the smooth +white skin above. Where the two join, the smooth bark is parted in +upright slashes, through which the dark, rough bark seems to swell up, +reminding one forcibly of some of the old fifteenth-century German +costumes, where a dark velvet is arranged to rise in crumpled folds +through slashings in white satin. In the stems of older birches the +rough bark rises much higher up the trunk and becomes clothed with +delicate grey-green lichen. + +The nut-walk was planted twelve years ago. There are two rows each side, +one row four feet behind the other, and the nuts are ten feet apart in +the rows. They are planted zigzag, those in the back rows showing +between the front ones. As the two inner rows are thirteen feet apart +measuring across the path, it leaves a shady border on each side, with +deeper bays between the nearer trees. Lent Hellebores fill one border +from end to end; the other is planted with the Corsican and the native +kinds, so that throughout February and March there is a complete bit of +garden of one kind of plant in full beauty of flower and foliage. + +The nut-trees have grown into such thick clumps that now there must be a +vigorous thinning. Each stool has from eight to twelve main stems, the +largest of them nearly two inches thick. Some shoot almost upright, +but two or three in each stool spread outward, with quite a different +habit of growth, branching about in an angular fashion. These are the +oldest and thickest. There are also a number of straight suckers one and +two years old. Now when I look at some fine old nut alley, with the tops +arching and meeting overhead, as I hope mine will do in a few years, I +see that the trees have only a few stems, usually from three to five at +the most, and I judge that now is the time to thin mine to about the +right number, so that the strength and growing power may be thrown into +these, and not allowed to dilute and waste itself in growing extra +faggoting. The first to be cut away are the old crooked stems. They grow +nearly horizontally and are all elbows, and often so tightly locked into +the straighter rods that they have to be chopped to pieces before they +can be pulled out. When these are gone it is easier to get at the other +stems, though they are often so close together at the base that it is +difficult to chop or saw them out without hurting the bark of the ones +to be left. All the young suckers are cut away. They are of straight, +clean growth, and we prize them as the best possible sticks for +Chrysanthemums and potted Lilies. + +After this bold thinning, instead of dense thickety bushes we have a few +strong, well-branched rods to each stool. At first the nut-walk looks +wofully naked, and for the time its pictorial value is certainly +lessened; but it has to be done, and when summer side-twigs have grown +and leafed, it will be fairly well clothed, and meanwhile the Hellebores +will be the better for the thinner shade. + +The nut-catkins are already an inch long, but are tightly closed, and +there is no sign as yet of the bright crimson little sea-anemones that +will appear next month and will duly grow into nut-bearing twigs. Round +the edges of the base of the stools are here and there little branching +suckers. These are the ones to look out for, to pull off and grow into +young trees. A firm grasp and a sharp tug brings them up with a fine +supply of good fibrous root. After two years in the nursery they are +just right to plant out. + +The trees in the nut-walk were grown in this way fourteen years ago, +from small suckers pulled off plants that came originally from the +interesting cob-nut nursery at Calcot, near Reading. + +I shall never forget a visit to that nursery some six-and-twenty years +ago. It was walled all round, and a deep-sounding bell had to be rung +many times before any one came to open the gate; but at last it was +opened by a fine, strongly-built, sunburnt woman of the type of the good +working farmer's wife, that I remember as a child. She was the +forewoman, who worked the nursery with surprisingly few hands--only +three men, if I remember rightly--but she looked as if she could do the +work of "all two men" herself. One of the specialties of the place was a +fine breed of mastiffs; another was an old Black Hamburg vine, that +rambled and clambered in and out of some very old greenhouses, and was +wonderfully productive. There were alleys of nuts in all directions, and +large spreading patches of palest yellow Daffodils--the double +_Narcissus cernuus_, now so scarce and difficult to grow. Had I then +known how precious a thing was there in fair abundance, I should not +have been contented with the modest dozen that I asked for. It was a +most pleasant garden to wander in, especially with the old Mr. Webb who +presently appeared. He was dressed in black clothes of an old-looking +cut--a Quaker, I believe. Never shall I forget an apple-tart he invited +me to try as a proof of the merit of the "Wellington" apple. It was not +only good, but beautiful; the cooked apple looking rosy and transparent, +and most inviting. He told me he was an ardent preacher of total +abstinence, and took me to a grassy, shady place among the nuts, where +there was an upright stone slab, like a tombstone, with the inscription: + + TO ALCOHOL. + +He had dug a grave, and poured into it a quantity of wine and beer and +spirits, and placed the stone as a memorial of his abhorrence of drink. +The whole thing remains in my mind like a picture--the shady groves of +old nuts, in tenderest early leaf, the pale Daffodils, the mighty +chained mastiffs with bloodshot eyes and murderous fangs, the brawny, +wholesome forewoman, and the trim old gentleman in black. It was the +only nursery I ever saw where one would expect to see fairies on a +summer's night. + +I never tire of admiring and praising _Iris stylosa_, which has proved +itself such a good plant for English gardens; at any rate, for those in +our southern counties. Lovely in form and colour, sweetly-scented and +with admirable foliage, it has in addition to these merits the unusual +one of a blooming season of six months' duration. The first flowers come +with the earliest days of November, and its season ends with a rush of +bloom in the first half of April. Then is the time to take up old tufts +and part them, and plant afresh; the old roots will have dried up into +brown wires, and the new will be pushing. It thrives in rather poor +soil, and seems to bloom all the better for having its root-run invaded +by some stronger plant. When I first planted a quantity I had brought +from its native place, I made the mistake of putting it in a +well-prepared border. At first I was delighted to see how well it +flourished, but as it gave me only thick masses of leaves a yard long, +and no flowers, it was clear that it wanted to be less well fed. After +changing it to poor soil, at the foot of a sunny wall close to a strong +clump of Alstroemeria, I was rewarded with a good crop of flowers; and +the more the Alstroemeria grew into it on one side and _Plumbago +Larpenti_ on the other, the more freely the brave little Iris flowered. +The flower has no true stem; what serves as a stem, sometimes a foot +long, is the elongated style, so that the seed-pod has to be looked for +deep down at the base of the tufts of leaves, and almost under ground. +The specific name, _stylosa_, is so clearly descriptive, that one +regrets that the longer, and certainly uglier, _unguicularis_ should be +preferred by botanists. + +What a delight it was to see it for the first time in its home in the +hilly wastes, a mile or two inland from the town of Algiers! Another +lovely blue Iris was there too, _I. alata_ or _scorpioides_, growing +under exactly the same conditions; but this is a plant unwilling to be +acclimatised in England. What a paradise it was for flower-rambles, +among the giant Fennels and the tiny orange Marigolds, and the immense +bulbs of _Scilla maritima_ standing almost out of the ground, and the +many lovely Bee-orchises and the fairy-like _Narcissus serotinus_, and +the groves of Prickly Pear wreathed and festooned with the graceful +tufts of bell-shaped flower and polished leaves of _Clematis cirrhosa_! + +It was in the days when there were only a few English residents, but +among them was the Rev. Edwyn Arkwright, who by his happy discovery of a +white-flowered _Iris stylosa_, the only one that has been found wild, +has enriched our gardens with a most lovely variety of this excellent +plant. I am glad to be able to quote his own words:-- + +"The finding of the white _Iris stylosa_ belongs to the happy old times +twenty-five years ago, when there were no social duties and no +vineyards[1] in Algiers. My two sisters and I bought three horses, and +rode wild every day in the scrub of Myrtle, Cistus, Dwarf Oak, &c. It +was about five miles from the town, on what is called the 'Sahel,' that +the one plant grew that I was told botanists knew ought to exist, but +with all their searching had never found. I am thankful that I dug it up +instead of picking it, only knowing that it was a pretty flower. Then +after a year or two Durando saw it, and took off his hat to it, and told +me what a treasure it was, and proceeded to send off little bits to his +friends; and among them all, Ware of Tottenham managed to be beforehand, +and took a first-class certificate for it. It is odd that there should +never have been another plant found, for there never was such a +free-growing and multiplying plant. My sister in Herefordshire has had +over fifty blooms this winter; but we count it by thousands, and it is +_the_ feature in all decorations in every English house in Algiers." + +[1] The planting of large vineyards, in some cases of private +enterprise, had not proved a financial success. + +Throughout January, and indeed from the middle of December, is the time +when outdoor flowers for cutting and house decoration are most scarce; +and yet there are Christmas Roses and yellow Jasmine and Laurustinus, +and in all open weather _Iris stylosa_ and Czar Violets. A very few +flowers can be made to look well if cleverly arranged with plenty of +good foliage; and even when a hard and long frost spoils the few +blooms that would otherwise be available, leafy branches alone are +beautiful in rooms. But, as in all matters that have to do with +decoration, everything depends on a right choice of material and the +exercise of taste in disposing it. Red-tinted Berberis always looks well +alone, if three or four branches are boldly cut from two to three feet +long. Branches of the spotted Aucuba do very well by themselves, and are +specially beautiful in blue china; the larger the leaves and the bolder +the markings, the better. Where there is an old Exmouth Magnolia that +can spare some small branches, nothing makes a nobler room-ornament. The +long arching sprays of Alexandrian Laurel do well with green or +variegated Box, and will live in a room for several weeks. Among useful +winter leaves of smaller growth, those of _Epimedium pinnatum_ have a +fine red colour and delicate veining, and I find them very useful for +grouping with greenhouse flowers of delicate texture. _Gaultheria +Shallon_ is at its best in winter, and gives valuable branches and twigs +for cutting; and much to be prized are sprays of the Japan Privet, with +its tough, highly-polished leaves, so much like those of the orange. +There is a variegated Eurybia, small branches of which are excellent; +and always useful are the gold and silver Hollies. + +There is a little plant, _Ophiopogon spicatum_, that I grow in rather +large quantity for winter cutting, the leaves being at their best in the +winter months. They are sword-shaped and of a lively green colour, and +are arranged in flat sheaves after the manner of a flag-Iris. I pull up +a whole plant at a time--a two-year-old plant is a spreading tuft of the +little sheaves--and wash it and cut away the groups of leaves just at +the root, so that they are held together by the root-stock. They last +long in water, and are beautiful with Roman Hyacinths or Freesias or +_Iris stylosa_ and many other flowers. The leaves of Megaseas, +especially those of the _cordifolia_ section, colour grandly in winter, +and look fine in a large bowl with the largest blooms of Christmas +Roses, or with forced Hyacinths. Much useful material can be found among +Ivies, both of the wild and garden kinds. When they are well established +they generally throw out rather woody front shoots; these are the ones +to look out for, as they stand out with a certain degree of stiffness +that makes them easier to arrange than weaker trailing pieces. + +I do not much care for dried flowers--the bulrush and pampas-grass +decoration has been so much overdone, that it has become wearisome--but +I make an exception in favour of the flower of _Eulalia japonica_, and +always give it a place. It does not come to its full beauty out of +doors; it only finishes its growth late in October, and therefore does +not have time to dry and expand. I grew it for many years before finding +out that the closed and rather draggled-looking heads would open +perfectly in a warm room. The uppermost leaf often confines the flower, +and should be taken off to release it; the flower does not seem to +mature quite enough to come free of itself. Bold masses of Helichrysum +certainly give some brightness to a room during the darkest weeks of +winter, though the brightest yellow is the only one I much care to have; +there is a look of faded tinsel about the other colourings. I much prize +large bunches of the native Iris berries, and grow it largely for winter +room-ornament. + +Among the many valuable suggestions in Mrs. Earle's delightful book, +"Pot-pourri from a Surrey Garden," is the use indoors of the smaller +coloured gourds. As used by her they give a bright and cheerful look to +a room that even flowers can not surpass. + +[Illustration: A WILD JUNIPER.] + + + + +CHAPTER III + +FEBRUARY + +Distant promise of summer -- Ivy-berries -- Coloured leaves -- _Berberis +Aquifolium_ -- Its many merits -- Thinning and pruning shrubs -- Lilacs +-- Removing suckers -- Training _Clematis flammula_ -- Forms of trees -- +Juniper, a neglected native evergreen -- Effect of snow -- Power of +recovery -- Beauty of colour -- Moss-grown stems. + + +There is always in February some one day, at least, when one smells the +yet distant, but surely coming, summer. Perhaps it is a warm, mossy +scent that greets one when passing along the southern side of a +hedge-bank; or it may be in some woodland opening, where the sun has +coaxed out the pungent smell of the trailing ground Ivy, whose blue +flowers will soon appear; but the day always comes, and with it the glad +certainty that summer is nearing, and that the good things promised will +never fail. + +How strangely little of positive green colour is to be seen in copse and +woodland. Only the moss is really green. The next greenest thing is the +northern sides of the trunks of beech and oak. Walking southward they +are all green, but looking back they are silver-grey. The undergrowth is +of brambles and sparse fronds of withered bracken; the bracken less +beaten down than usual, for the winter has been without snow; only where +the soil is deeper, and the fern has grown more tall and rank, it has +fallen into thick, almost felted masses, and the stalks all lying one +way make the heaps look like lumps of fallen thatch. The bramble +leaves--last year's leaves, which are held all the winter--are of a +dark, blackish-bronze colour, or nearly red where they have seen the +sun. Age seems to give them a sort of hard surface and enough of a +polish to reflect the sky; the young leaves that will come next month +are almost woolly at first. Grassy tufts show only bleached bents, so +tightly matted that one wonders how the delicate young blades will be +able to spear through. Ivy-berries, hanging in thick clusters, are still +in beauty; they are so heavy that they weigh down the branches. There is +a peculiar beauty in the form and veining of the plain-shaped leaves +belonging to the mature or flowering state that the plant reaches when +it can no longer climb, whether on a wall six feet high or on the +battlements of a castle. Cuttings grown from such portions retain this +habit, and form densely-flowering bushes of compact shape. + +Beautiful colouring is now to be seen in many of the plants whose leaves +do not die down in winter. Foremost amongst these is the Foam-flower +(_Tiarella cordifolia_). Its leaves, now lying on the ground, show +bright colouring, inclining to scarlet, crimson, and orange. _Tellima_, +its near relation, is also well coloured. _Galax aphylla_, with its +polished leaves of hard texture, and stalks almost as stiff as wire, is +nearly as bright; and many of the Megaseas are of a fine bronze red, the +ones that colour best being the varieties of the well-known _M. +crassifolia_ and _M. cordifolia_. Among shrubs, some of the nearly +allied genera, popularly classed under the name Andromeda, are beautiful +in reddish colour passing into green, in some of the leaves by tender +gradation, and in others by bold splashing. _Berberis Aquifolium_ begins +to colour after the first frosts; though some plants remain green, the +greater number take on some rich tinting of red or purple, and +occasionally in poor soil and in full sun a bright red that may almost +be called scarlet. + +What a precious thing this fine old Berberis is! What should we do in +winter without its vigorous masses of grand foliage in garden and +shrubbery, to say nothing of its use indoors? Frequent as it is in +gardens, it is seldom used as well or thoughtfully as it deserves. There +are many places where, between garden and wood, a well-considered +planting of Berberis, combined with two or three other things of larger +stature, such as the fruiting Barberry, and Whitethorn and Holly, would +make a very enjoyable piece of shrub wild-gardening. When one reflects +that _Berberis Aquifolium_ is individually one of the handsomest of +small shrubs, that it is at its very best in mid-winter, that every leaf +is a marvel of beautiful drawing and construction, and that its ruddy +winter colouring is a joy to see, enhanced as it is by the glistening +brightness of the leaf-surface; and further, when one remembers that in +spring the whole picture changes--that the polished leaves are green +again, and the bushes are full of tufted masses of brightest yellow +bloom, and fuller of bee-music than any other plant then in flower; and +that even then it has another season of beauty yet to come, when in the +days of middle summer it is heavily loaded with the thick-clustered +masses of berries, covered with a brighter and bluer bloom than almost +any other fruit can show,--when one thinks of all this brought together +in one plant, it seems but right that we should spare no pains to use it +well. It is the only hardy shrub I can think of that is in one or other +of its varied forms of beauty throughout the year. It is never leafless +or untidy; it never looks mangy like an Ilex in April, or moulting like +a Holly in May, or patchy and unfinished like Yew and Box and many other +evergreens when their young leafy shoots are sprouting. + +We have been thinning the shrubs in one of the rather large clumps next +to the lawn, taking the older wood in each clump right out from the +bottom and letting more light and air into the middle. Weigelas grow +fast and very thick. Quite two-thirds have been cut out of each bush of +Weigela, Philadelphus, and Ribes, and a good bit out of Ceanothus, +"Gloire de Versailles," my favourite of its kind, and all the oldest +wood from _Viburnum plicatus_. The stuff cut out makes quite a +respectable lot of faggoting. How extremely dense and hard is the wood +of Philadelphus! as close-grained as Box, and almost as hard as the +bright yellow wood of Berberis. + +Some of the Lilacs have a good many suckers from the root, as well as on +the lower part of the stem. These must all come away, and then the trees +will have a good dressing of manure. They are greedy feeders, and want +it badly in our light soil, and surely no flowering shrub more truly +deserves it. The Lilacs I have are some of the beautiful kinds raised in +France, for which we can never be thankful enough to our good neighbours +across the Channel. The white variety, "Marie Legraye," always remains +my favourite. Some are larger and whiter, and have the trusses more +evenly and closely filled, but this beautiful Marie fills one with a +satisfying conviction as of something that is just right, that has +arrived at the point of just the best and most lovable kind of beauty, +and has been wisely content to stay there, not attempting to pass beyond +and excel itself. Its beauty is modest and reserved, and temperate and +full of refinement. The colour has a deliciously-tender warmth of white, +and as the truss is not over-full, there is room for a delicate play of +warm half-light within its recesses. Among the many beautiful coloured +Lilacs, I am fond of Lucie Baltet and Princesse Marie. There may be +better flowers from the ordinary florist point of view, but these have +the charm that is a good garden flower's most precious quality. I do not +like the cold, heavy-coloured ones of the bluish-slaty kinds. No shrub +is hardier than the Lilac; I believe they flourish even within the +Arctic Circle. It is very nearly allied to Privet; so nearly, that the +oval-leaved Privet is commonly used as a stock. Standard trees flower +much better than bushes; in this form all the strength seems to go +directly to the flowering boughs. No shrub is more persistent in +throwing up suckers from the root and from the lower part of the stem, +but in bush trees as well as in standards they should be carefully +removed every year. In the case of bushes, three or four main stems will +be enough to leave. When taking away suckers of any kind whatever, it is +much better to tear them out than to cut them off. A cut, however close, +leaves a base from which they may always spring again, but if pulled or +wrenched out they bring away with them the swollen base that, if left +in, would be a likely source of future trouble. + +Before the end of February we must be sure to prune and train any plants +there may be of _Clematis flammula_. Its growth is so rapid when once it +begins, that if it is overlooked it soon grows into a tangled mass of +succulent weak young stuff, quite unmanageable two months hence, when it +will be hanging about in helpless masses, dead and living together. If +it is left till then, one can only engirdle the whole thing with a soft +tarred rope and sling it up somehow or anyhow. But if taken now, when +the young growths are just showing at the joints, the last year's mass +can be untangled, the dead and the over-much cut out, and the best +pieces trained in. In gardening, the interests of the moment are so +engrossing that one is often tempted to forget the future; but it is +well to remember that this lovely and tenderly-scented Clematis will be +one of the chief beauties of September, and well deserves a little +timely care. + +In summer-time one never really knows how beautiful are the forms of the +deciduous trees. It is only in winter, when they are bare of leaves, +that one can fully enjoy their splendid structure and design, their +admirable qualities of duly apportioned strength and grace of poise, and +the way the spread of the many-branched head has its equivalent in the +wide-reaching ground-grasp of the root. And it is interesting to see +how, in the many different kinds of tree, the same laws are always in +force, and the same results occur, and yet by the employment of what +varied means. For nothing in the growth of trees can be much more unlike +than the habit of the oak and that of the weeping willow, though the +unlikeness only comes from the different adjustment of the same sources +of power and the same weights, just as in the movement of wind-blown +leaves some flutter and some undulate, while others turn over and back +again. Old apple-trees are specially noticeable for their beauty in +winter, when their extremely graceful shape, less visible when in +loveliness of spring bloom or in rich bounty of autumn fruit, is seen to +fullest advantage. + +Few in number are our native evergreens, and for that reason all the +more precious. One of them, the common Juniper, is one of the best of +shrubs either for garden or wild ground, and yet, strangely enough, it +is so little appreciated that it is scarcely to be had in nurseries. +Chinese Junipers, North American Junipers, Junipers from Spain and +Greece, from Nepaul and Siberia, may be had, but the best Juniper of all +is very rarely grown. Were it a common tree one could see a sort of +reason (to some minds) for overlooking it, but though it is fairly +abundant on a few hill-sides in the southern counties, it is by no means +widely distributed throughout the country. Even this reason would not be +consistent with common practice, for the Holly is abundant throughout +England, and yet is to be had by the thousand in every nursery. Be the +reason what it may, the common Juniper is one of the most desirable of +evergreens, and is most undeservedly neglected. Even our botanists fail +to do it justice, for Bentham describes it as a low shrub growing two +feet, three feet, or four feet high. I quote from memory only; these may +not be the words, but this is the sense of his description. He had +evidently seen it on the chalk downs only, where such a portrait of it +is exactly right. But in our sheltered uplands, in sandy soil, it is +a small tree of noble aspect, twelve to twenty-eight feet high. In form +it is extremely variable, for sometimes it shoots up on a single stem +and looks like an Italian Cypress or like the upright Chinese Juniper, +while at other times it will have two or more tall spires and a dense +surrounding mass of lower growth, while in other cases it will be like a +quantity of young trees growing close together, and yet the trees in all +these varied forms may be nearly of an age. + +[Illustration: SCOTCH FIRS THROWN ON TO FROZEN WATER BY SNOWSTORM.] + +The action of snow is the reason of this unlikeness of habit. If, when +young, the tree happens to have one main stem strong enough to shoot up +alone, and if at the same time there come a sequence of winters without +much snow, there will be the tall, straight, cypress-like tree. But if, +as is more commonly the case, the growth is divided into a number of +stems of nearly equal size, sooner or later they are sure to be laid +down by snow. Such a winter storm as that of the end of December 1886 +was especially disastrous to Junipers. Snow came on early in the evening +in this district, when the thermometer was barely at freezing point and +there was no wind. It hung on the trees in clogging masses, with a +lowering temperature that was soon below freezing. The snow still +falling loaded them more and more; then came the fatal wind, and all +through that night we heard the breaking trees. When morning came there +were eighteen inches of snow on the ground, and all the trees that +could be seen, mostly Scotch fir, seemed to be completely wrecked. Some +were entirely stripped of branches, and stood up bare, like +scaffold-poles. Until the snow was gone or half gone, no idea could be +formed of the amount of damage done to shrubs; all were borne down and +buried under the white rounded masses. A great Holly on the edge of the +lawn, nearly thirty feet high and as much in spread, whose head in +summer is crowned with a great tangle of Honeysuckle, had that crowned +head lying on the ground weighted down by the frozen mass. But when the +snow was gone and all the damage could be seen, the Junipers looked +worse than anything. What had lately been shapely groups were lying +perfectly flat, the bare-stemmed, leafless portions of the inner part of +the group showing, and looking like a faggot of dry brushwood, that, +having been stood upright, had burst its band and fallen apart in all +directions. Some, whose stems had weathered many snowy winters, now had +them broken short off half-way up; while others escaped with bare life, +but with the thick, strong stem broken down, the heavy head lying on the +ground, and the stem wrenched open at the break, like a half-untwisted +rope. The great wild Junipers were the pride of our stretch of heathy +waste just beyond the garden, and the scene of desolation was truly +piteous, for though many of them already bore the marks of former +accidents, never within our memory had there been such complete and +comprehensive destruction. + +[Illustration: OLD JUNIPER, SHOWING FORMER INJURIES.] + +[Illustration: JUNIPER, LATELY WRECKED BY SNOWSTORM.] + +But now, ten years later, so great is their power of recovery, that +there are the same Junipers, and, except in the case of those actually +broken off, looking as well as ever. For those with many stems that were +laid down flat have risen at the tips, and each tip looks like a +vigorous young ten-year-old tree. What was formerly a massive, +bushy-shaped Juniper, some twelve feet to fifteen feet high, now covers +a space thirty feet across, and looks like a thick group of +closely-planted, healthy young ones. The half broken-down trees have +also risen at the tips, and are full of renewed vigour. Indeed, this +breaking down and splitting open seems to give them a new energy, for +individual trees that I have known well, and observed to look old and +over-worn, and to all appearance on the downward road of life, after +being broken and laid down by snow, have some years later, shot up again +with every evidence of vigorous young life. It would be more easily +accounted for if the branch rooted where it touched the ground, as so +many trees and bushes will do; but as far as I have been able to +observe, the Juniper does not "layer" itself. I have often thought I had +found a fine young one fit for transplanting, but on clearing away the +moss and fern at the supposed root have found that it was only the tip +of a laid-down branch of a tree perhaps twelve feet away. In the case of +one of our trees, among a group of laid-down and grown-up branches, one +old central trunk has survived. It is now so thick and strong, and has +so little top, that it will be likely to stand till it falls from sheer +old age. Close to it is another, whose main stem was broken down about +five feet from the ground; now, what was the head rests on the earth +nine feet away, and a circle of its outspread branches has become a +wholesome group of young upright growths, while at the place where the +stem broke, the half-opened wrench still shows as clearly as on the day +it was done. + +Among the many merits of the Juniper, its tenderly mysterious beauty of +colouring is by no means the least; a colouring as delicately subtle in +its own way as that of cloud or mist, or haze in warm, wet woodland. It +has very little of positive green; a suspicion of warm colour in the +shadowy hollows, and a blue-grey bloom of the tenderest quality +imaginable on the outer masses of foliage. Each tiny, blade-like leaf +has a band of dead, palest bluish-green colour on the upper surface, +edged with a narrow line of dark green slightly polished; the back of +the leaf is of the same full, rather dark green, with slight polish; it +looks as if the green back had been brought up over the edge of the leaf +to make the dark edging on the upper surface. The stems of the twigs are +of a warm, almost foxy colour, becoming darker and redder in the +branches. The tips of the twigs curl over or hang out on all sides +towards the light, and the "set" of the individual twigs is full of +variety. This arrangement of mixed colouring and texture, and infinitely +various position of the spiny little leaves, allows the eye to +penetrate unconsciously a little way into the mass, so that one sees as +much tender shadow as actual leaf-surface, and this is probably the +cause of the wonderfully delicate and, so to speak, intangible quality +of colouring. Then, again, where there is a hollow place in a bush, or +group, showing a cluster of half-dead stems, at first one cannot tell +what the colour is, till with half-shut eyes one becomes aware of a +dusky and yet luminous purple-grey. + +The merits of the Juniper are not yet done with, for throughout the +winter (the time of growth of moss and lichen) the rugged-barked old +stems are clothed with loveliest pale-green growths of a silvery +quality. Standing before it, and trying to put the colour into words, +one repeats, again and again, pale-green silver--palest silvery green! +Where the lichen is old and dead it is greyer; every now and then there +is a touch of the orange kind, and a little of the branched stag-horn +pattern so common on the heathy ground. Here and there, as the trunk or +branch is increasing in girth, the silvery, lichen-clad, rough outer +bark has parted, and shows the smooth, dark-red inner bark; the outer +covering still clinging over the opening, and looking like grey ribands +slightly interlaced. Many another kind of tree-stem is beautiful in its +winter dress, but it is difficult to find any so full of varied beauty +and interest as that of the Juniper; it is one of the yearly feasts that +never fails to delight and satisfy. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +MARCH + +Flowering bulbs -- Dog-tooth Violet -- Rock-garden -- Variety of +Rhododendron foliage -- A beautiful old kind -- Suckers on grafted +plants -- Plants for filling up the beds -- Heaths -- Andromedas -- Lady +Fern -- _Lilium auratum_ -- Pruning Roses -- Training and tying climbing +plants -- Climbing and free-growing Roses -- The Vine the best +wall-covering -- Other climbers -- Wild Clematis -- Wild Rose. + + +In early March many and lovely are the flowering bulbs, and among them a +wealth of blue, the more precious that it is the colour least frequent +among flowers. The blue of _Scilla sibirica_, like all blues that have +in them a suspicion of green, has a curiously penetrating quality; the +blue of _Scilla bifolia_ does not attack the eye so smartly. _Chionodoxa +sardensis_ is of a full and satisfying colour, that is enhanced by the +small space of clear white throat. A bed of it shows very little +variation in colour. _Chionodoxa Lucilliae_, on the other hand, varies +greatly; one may pick out light and dark blue, and light and dark of +almost lilac colour. The variety _C. gigantea_ is a fine plant. There +are some pretty kinds of _Scilla bifolia_ that were raised by the Rev. +J. G. Nelson of Aldborough, among them a tender flesh-colour and a good +pink. _Leucojum vernum_, with its clear white flowers and polished +dark-green leaves, is one of the gems of early March; and, flowering at +the same time, no flower of the whole year can show a more splendid and +sumptuous colour than the purple of _Iris reticulata_. Varieties have +been raised, some larger, some nearer blue, and some reddish purple, but +the type remains the best garden flower. _Iris stylosa_, in sheltered +nooks open to the sun, when well established, gives flower from November +till April, the strongest rush of bloom being about the third week in +March. It is a precious plant in our southern counties, delicately +scented, of a tender and yet full lilac-blue. The long ribbon-like +leaves make handsome tufts, and the sheltered place it needs in our +climate saves the flowers from the injury they receive on their native +windy Algerian hills, where they are nearly always torn into tatters. + +What a charm there is about the common Dogtooth Violet; it is pretty +everywhere, in borders, in the rock-garden, in all sorts of corners. But +where it looks best with me is in a grassy place strewn with dead +leaves, under young oaks, where the garden joins the copse. This is a +part of the pleasure-ground that has been treated with some care, and +has rewarded thought and labour with some success, so that it looks less +as if it had been planned than as if it might have come naturally. At +one point the lawn, trending gently upward, runs by grass paths into a +rock-garden, planted mainly with dwarf shrubs. Here are Andromedas, +Pernettyas, Gaultherias, and Alpine Rhododendron, and with them three +favourites whose crushed leaves give a grateful fragrance, Sweet Gale, +_Ledum palustre_, and _Rhododendron myrtifolium_. The rock part is +unobtrusive; where the ground rises rather quickly are a couple of +ridges made of large, long lumps of sandstone, half buried, and so laid +as to give a look of natural stratification. Hardy Ferns are grateful +for the coolness of their northern flanks, and Cyclamens are happy on +the ledges. Beyond and above is the copse, or thin wood of young silver +Birch and Holly, in summer clothed below with bracken, but now bristling +with the bluish spears of Daffodils and the buds that will soon burst +into bloom. The early Pyrenean Daffodil is already out, gleaming through +the low-toned copse like lamps of pale yellow light. Where the rough +path enters the birch copse is a cheerfully twinkling throng of the +Dwarf Daffodil (_N. nanus_), looking quite at its best on its carpet of +moss and fine grass and dead leaves. The light wind gives it a graceful, +dancing movement, with an active spring about the upper part of the +stalk. Some of the heavier trumpets not far off answer to the same wind +with only a ponderous, leaden sort of movement. + +Farther along the garden joins the wood by a plantation of Rhododendrons +and broad grassy paths, and farther still by a thicket of the +free-growing Roses, some forming fountain-like clumps nine paces in +diameter, and then again by masses of flowering shrubs, gradating by +means of Sweetbriar, Water-elder, Dogwood, Medlar, and Thorn from garden +to wild wood. + +Now that the Rhododendrons, planted nine years ago, have grown to a +state and size of young maturity, it is interesting to observe how much +they vary in foliage, and how clearly the leaves show the relative +degree of relationship to their original parents, the wild mountain +plants of Asia Minor and the United States. These, being two of the +hardiest kinds, were the ones first chosen by hybridisers, and to these +kinds we owe nearly all of the large numbers of beautiful garden +Rhododendrons now in cultivation. The ones more nearly related to the +wild _R. ponticum_ have long, narrow, shining dark-green leaves, while +the varieties that incline more to the American _R. catawbiense_ have +the leaves twice as broad, and almost rounded at the shoulder where they +join the stalk; moreover, the surface of the leaf has a different +texture, less polished, and showing a grain like morocco leather. The +colour also is a lighter and more yellowish green, and the bush is not +so densely branched. The leaves of all the kinds are inclined to hang +down in cold weather, and this habit is more clearly marked in the +_catawbiense_ varieties. + +There is one old kind called _Multum maculatum_--I dare say one of the +earliest hybrids--for which I have a special liking. It is now despised +by florists, because the flower is thin in texture and the petal +narrow, and the truss not tightly filled. Nevertheless I find it quite +the most beautiful Rhododendron as a cut flower, perhaps just because of +these unorthodox qualities. And much as I admire the great bouncing +beauties that are most justly the pride of their raisers, I hold that +this most refined and delicate class of beauty equally deserves faithful +championship. The flowers of this pretty old kind are of a delicate +milk-white, and the lower petals are generously spotted with a +rosy-scarlet of the loveliest quality. The leaves are the longest and +narrowest and darkest green of any kind I know, making the bush +conspicuously handsome in winter. I have to confess that it is a shy +bloomer, and that it seems unwilling to flower in a young state, but I +think of it as a thing so beautiful and desirable as to be worth waiting +for. + +Within March, and before the busier season comes upon us, it is well to +look out for the suckers that are likely to come on grafted plants. They +may generally be detected by the typical _ponticum_ leaf, but if the +foliage of a branch should be suspicious and yet doubtful, if on +following the shoot down it is seen to come straight from the root and +to have a redder bark than the rest, it may safely be taken for a +robber. Of course the invading stock may be easily seen when in flower, +but the good gardener takes it away before it has this chance of +reproaching him. A lady visitor last year told me with some pride that +she had a most wonderful Rhododendron in bloom; all the flower in the +middle was crimson, with a ring of purple-flowered branches outside. I +am afraid she was disappointed when I offered condolence instead of +congratulation, and had to tell her that the phenomenon was not uncommon +among neglected bushes. + +When my Rhododendron beds were first planted, I followed the usual +practice of filling the outer empty spaces of the clumps with hardy +Heaths. Perhaps it is still the best or one of the best ways to begin +when the bushes are quite young; for if planted the right distance +apart--seven to nine feet--there must be large bare spaces between; but +now that they have filled the greater part of the beds, I find that the +other plants I tried are more to my liking. These are, foremost of all, +_Andromeda Catesbaei_, then Lady Fern, and then the dwarf _Rhododendron +myrtifolium_. The main spaces between the young bushes I plant with +_Cistus laurifolius_, a perfectly hardy kind; this grows much faster +than the Rhododendrons, and soon fills the middle spaces; by the time +that the best of its life is over--for it is a short-lived bush--the +Rhododendrons will be wanting all the space. Here and there in the inner +spaces I put groups of _Lilium auratum_, a Lily that thrives in a peaty +bed, and that looks its best when growing through other plants; +moreover, when the Rhododendrons are out of flower, the Lily, whose +blooming season is throughout the late summer and autumn, gives a new +beauty and interest to that part of the garden. + +The time has come for pruning Roses, and for tying up and training the +plants that clothe wall and fence and pergola. And this sets one +thinking about climbing and rambling plants, and all their various ways +and wants, and of how best to use them. One of my boundaries to a road +is a fence about nine feet high, wall below and close oak paling above. +It is planted with free-growing Roses of several types--Aimee Vibert, +Madame Alfred Carriere, Reine Olga de Wurtemburg, and Bouquet d'Or, the +strongest of the Dijon teas. Then comes a space of _Clematis Montana_ +and _Clematis flammula_, and then more Roses--Madame Plantier, Emelie +Plantier (a delightful Rose to cut), and some of the grand Sweetbriars +raised by Lord Penzance. + +From midsummer onward these Roses are continually cut for flower, and +yield an abundance of quite the most ornamental class of bloom. For I +like to have cut Roses arranged in a large, free way, with whole +branches three feet or four feet long, easy to have from these +free-growing kinds, that throw out branches fifteen feet long in one +season, even on our poor, sandy soil, that contains no particle of that +rich loam that Roses love. I think this same Reine Olga, the grand +grower from which have come our longest and largest prunings, must be +quite the best evergreen Rose, for it holds its full clothing of +handsome dark-green leaves right through the winter. It seems to like +hard pruning. I have one on a part of the pergola, but have no pleasure +from it, as it has rushed up to the top, and nothing shows but a few +naked stems. + +[Illustration: GARDEN DOOR-WAY WREATHED WITH CLEMATIS GRAVEOLENS.] + +[Illustration: COTTAGE PORCH WREATHED WITH THE DOUBLE WHITE ROSE (_R. +alba_).] + +One has to find out how to use all these different Roses. How often one +sees the wrong Roses used as climbers on the walls of a house. I have +seen a Gloire de Dijon covering the side of a house with a profitless +reticulation of bare stem, and a few leaves and flowers looking into the +gutter just under the edge of the roof. What are generally recommended +as climbing Roses are too ready to ramp away, leaving bare, leggy growth +where wall-clothing is desired. One of the best is climbing Aimee +Vibert, for with very little pruning it keeps well furnished nearly to +the ground, and with its graceful clusters of white bloom and +healthy-looking, polished leaves is always one of the prettiest of +Roses. Its only fault is that it does not shed its dead petals, but +retains the whole bloom in dead brown clusters. + +But if a Rose wishes to climb, it should be accommodated with a suitable +place. That excellent old Rose, the Dundee Rambler, or the still +prettier Garland Rose, will find a way up a Holly-tree, and fling out +its long wreaths of tenderly-tinted bloom; and there can be no better +way of using the lovely Himalayan _R. Brunonis_, with its long, almost +blue leaves and wealth of milk-white flower. A common Sweetbriar will +also push up among the branches of some dark evergreen, Yew or Holly, +and throw out aloft its scented branches and rosy bloom, and look its +very best. + +But some of these same free Roses are best of all if left in a clear +space to grow exactly as they will without any kind of support or +training. So placed, they grow into large rounded groups. Every year, +just after the young laterals on the last year's branches have flowered, +they throw out vigorous young rods that arch over as they complete their +growth, and will be the flower-bearers of the year to come. + +Two kinds of Roses of rambling growth that are rather tender, but +indispensable for beauty, are Fortune's Yellow and the Banksias. Pruning +the free Roses is always rough work for the hands and clothes, but of +all Roses I know, the worst to handle is Fortune's Yellow. The prickles +are hooked back in a way that no care or ingenuity can escape; and +whether it is their shape and power of cruel grip, or whether they have +anything of a poisonous quality, I do not know; but whereas hands +scratched and torn by Roses in general heal quickly, the wounds made by +Fortune's Yellow are much more painful and much slower to get well. I +knew an old labourer who died of a rose-prick. He used to work about the +roads, and at cleaning the ditches and mending the hedges. For some time +I did not see him, and when I asked another old countryman, "What's gone +o' Master Trussler?" the answer was, "He's dead--died of a canker-bush." +The wild Dog-rose is still the "canker" in the speech of the old people, +and a thorn or prickle is still a "bush." A Dog-rose prickle had gone +deep into the old hedger's hand--a "bush" more or less was nothing to +him, but the neglected little wound had become tainted with some +impurity, blood-poisoning had set in, and my poor old friend had truly +enough "died of a canker-bush." + +The flowering season of Fortune's Yellow is a very short one, but it +comes so early, and the flowers have such incomparable beauty, and are +so little like those of any other Rose, that its value is quite without +doubt. Some of the Tea Roses approach it in its pink and copper +colouring, but the loose, open, rather flaunting form of the flower, and +the twisted set of the petals, display the colour better than is +possible in any of the more regular-shaped Roses. It is a good plan to +grow it through some other wall shrub, as it soon gets bare below, and +the early maturing flowering tips are glad to be a little sheltered by +the near neighbourhood of other foliage. + +I do not think that there is any other Rose that has just the same rich +butter colour as the Yellow Banksian, and this unusual colouring is the +more distinct because each little Rose in the cluster is nearly evenly +coloured all over, besides being in such dense bunches. The season of +bloom is very short, but the neat, polished foliage is always pleasant +to see throughout the year. The white kind and the larger white are both +lovely as to the individual bloom, but they flower so much more shyly +that the yellow is much the better garden plant. + +But the best of all climbing or rambling plants, whether for wall or +arbour or pergola, is undoubtedly the Grape-Vine. Even when trimly +pruned and trained for fruit-bearing on an outer wall it is an admirable +picture of leafage and fruit-cluster; but to have it in fullest beauty +it must ramp at will, for it is only when the fast-growing branches are +thrown out far and wide that it fairly displays its graceful vigour and +the generous magnificence of its incomparable foliage. + +The hardy Chasselas, known in England by the rather misleading name +Royal Muscadine, is one of the best, both for fruit and foliage. The +leaves are of moderate size, with clearly serrated edges and that +strongly waved outline that gives the impression of powerful build, and +is, in fact, a mechanical contrivance intended to stiffen the structure. +The colour of the leaves is a fresh, lively green, and in autumn they +are prettily marbled with yellow. Where a very large-leaved Vine is +wanted nothing is handsomer than the North American _Vitis Labrusca_ or +the Asiatic _Vitis Coignettii_, whose autumn leaves are gorgeously +coloured. For a place that demands more delicate foliage there is the +Parsley-Vine, that has a delightful look of refinement, and another that +should not be forgotten is the Claret-Vine, with autumnal colouring of +almost scarlet and purple, and abundance of tightly clustered black +fruit, nearly blue with a heavy bloom. + +Many an old house and garden can show the far-rambling power of the +beautiful _Wistaria Chinensis_, and of the large-leaved _Aristolochia +Sipho_, one of the best plants for covering a pergola, and of the +varieties of _Ampelopsis_, near relations of the Grape-Vine. The limit +of these notes only admits of mention of some of the more important +climbers; but among these the ever-delightful white Jasmine must have a +place. It will ramble far and fast if it has its own way, but then gives +little flower; but by close winter pruning it can be kept full of bloom +and leaf nearly to the ground. + +[Illustration: WILD HOP, ENTWINING WORMWOOD AND COW-PARSNIP.] + +The woods and hedges have also their beautiful climbing plants. +Honeysuckle in suitable conditions will ramble to great heights--in this +district most noticeable in tall Hollies and Junipers as well as in high +hedges. The wild Clematis is most frequent on the chalk, where it laces +together whole hedges and rushes up trees, clothing them in July with +long wreaths of delicate bloom, and in September with still more +conspicuous feathery seed. For rapid growth perhaps no English plant +outstrips the Hop, growing afresh from the root every year, and almost +equalling the Vine in beauty of leaf. The two kinds of wild Bryony are +also herbaceous climbers of rapid growth, and among the most beautiful +of our hedge plants. + +The wild Roses run up to great heights in hedge and thicket, and never +look so well as when among the tangles of mixed growth of wild forest +land or clambering through some old gnarled thorn-tree. The common +Brambles are also best seen in these forest groups; these again in form +of leaf show somewhat of a vine-like beauty. + +In the end of March, or at any time during the month when the wind is in +the east or north-east, all increase and development of vegetation +appears to cease. As things are, so they remain. Plants that are in +flower retain their bloom, but, as it were, under protest. A kind of +sullen dulness pervades all plant life. Sweet-scented shrubs do not give +off their fragrance; even the woodland moss and earth and dead leaves +withhold their sweet, nutty scent. The surface of the earth has an arid, +infertile look; a slight haze of an ugly grey takes the colour out of +objects in middle distance, and seems to rob the flowers of theirs, or +to put them out of harmony with all things around. But a day comes, or, +perhaps, a warmer night, when the wind, now breathing gently from the +south-west, puts new life into all growing things. A marvellous change +is wrought in a few hours. A little warm rain has fallen, and plants, +invisible before, and doubtless still underground, spring into glad +life. + +What an innocent charm there is about many of the true spring flowers. +Primroses of many colours are now in bloom, but the prettiest, this +year, is a patch of an early blooming white one, grouped with a delicate +lilac. Then comes _Omphalodes verna_, with its flowers of brilliant blue +and foliage of brightest green, better described by its pretty +north-country name, Blue-eyed Mary. There are Violets of many colours, +but daintiest of all is the pale-blue St. Helena; whether it is the +effect of its delicate colouring, or whether it has really a better +scent than other varieties of the common Violet, I cannot say, but it +always seems to have a more refined fragrance. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +APRIL + +Woodland spring flowers -- Daffodils in the copse -- Grape Hyacinths and +other spring bulbs -- How best to plant them -- Flowering shrubs -- +Rock-plants -- Sweet scents of April -- Snowy Mespilus, Marsh Marigolds, +and other spring flowers -- Primrose garden -- Pollen of Scotch Fir -- +Opening seed-pods of Fir and Gorse -- Auriculas -- Tulips -- Small +shrubs for rock-garden -- Daffodils as cut flowers -- Lent Hellebores -- +Primroses -- Leaves of wild Arum. + + +In early April there is quite a wealth of flower among plants that +belong half to wood and half to garden. _Epimedium pinnatum_, with its +delicate, orchid-like spike of pale-yellow bloom, flowers with its last +year's leaves, but as soon as it is fully out the young leaves rush up, +as if hastening to accompany the flowers. _Dentaria pinnata_, a woodland +plant of Switzerland and Austria, is one of the handsomest of the +white-flowered _cruciferae_, with well-filled heads of twelve to fifteen +flowers, and palmate leaves of freshest green. Hard by, and the best +possible plant to group with it, is the lovely Virginian Cowslip +(_Mertensia virginica_), the very embodiment of the freshness of early +spring. The sheaf of young leafage comes almost black out of the +ground, but as the leaves develop, their dull, lurid colouring changes +to a full, pale green of a curious texture, quite smooth, and yet +absolutely unreflecting. The dark colouring of the young leaves now only +remains as a faint tracery of veining on the backs of the leaves and +stalks, and at last dies quite away as the bloom expands. The flower is +of a rare and beautiful quality of colour, hard to describe--a +rainbow-flower of purple, indigo, full and pale blue, and daintiest +lilac, full of infinite variety and indescribable charm. The flowers are +in terminal clusters, richly filled; lesser clusters springing from the +axils of the last few leaves and joining with the topmost one to form a +gracefully drooping head. The lurid colouring of the young leaves is +recalled in the flower-stems and calix, and enhances the colour effect +of the whole. The flower of the common Dog-tooth Violet is over, but the +leaves have grown larger and handsomer. They look as if, originally of a +purplish-red colour, some liquid had been dropped on them, making +confluent pools of pale green, lightest at the centre of the drop. The +noblest plant of the same family (_Erythronium giganteum_) is now in +flower--a striking and beautiful wood plant, with turn-cap shaped +flowers of palest straw-colour, almost white, and large leaves, whose +markings are not drop-like as in the more familiar kind, but are +arranged in a regular sequence of bold splashings, reminding one of a +_Maranta_. The flowers, single or in pairs, rise on stems a foot or +fifteen inches high; the throat is beautifully marked with flames of +rich bay on a yellow ground, and the handsome group of golden-anthered +stamens and silvery pistil make up a flower of singular beauty and +refinement. That valuable Indian Primrose, _P. denticulata_, is another +fine plant for the cool edge or shady hollows of woodland in rather +good, deep soil. + +But the glory of the copse just now consists in the great stretches of +Daffodils. Through the wood run shallow, parallel hollows, the lowest +part of each depression some nine paces apart. Local tradition says they +are the remains of old pack-horse roads; they occur frequently in the +forest-like heathery uplands of our poor-soiled, sandy land, running, +for the most part, three or four together, almost evenly side by side. +The old people account for this by saying that when one track became too +much worn another was taken by its side. Where these pass through the +birch copse the Daffodils have been planted in the shallow hollows of +the old ways, in spaces of some three yards broad by thirty or forty +yards long--one kind at a time. Two of such tracks, planted with +_Narcissus princeps_ and _N. Horsfieldi_, are now waving rivers of +bloom, in many lights and accidents of cloud and sunshine full of +pictorial effect. The planting of Daffodils in this part of the copse is +much better than in any other portions where there were no guiding +track-ways, and where they were planted in haphazard sprinklings. + +[Illustration: DAFFODILS IN THE COPSE.] + +The Grape Hyacinths are now in full bloom. It is well to avoid the +common one (_Muscari racemosum_), at any rate in light soils, where it +becomes a troublesome weed. One of the best is _M. conicum_; this, with +the upright-leaved _M. botryoides_, and its white variety, are the best +for general use, but the Plume Hyacinth, which flowers later, should +have a place. _Ornithogalum nutans_ is another of the bulbous plants +that, though beautiful in flower, becomes so pestilent a weed that it is +best excluded. + +Where and how the early flowering bulbs had best be planted is a +question of some difficulty. Perhaps the mixed border, where they are +most usually put, is the worst place of all, for when in flower they +only show as forlorn little patches of bloom rather far apart, and when +their leaves die down, leaving their places looking empty, the ruthless +spade or trowel stabs into them when it is desired to fill the space +with some other plant. Moreover, when the border is manured and partly +dug in the autumn, it is difficult to avoid digging up the bulbs just +when they are in full root-growth. Probably the best plan is to devote a +good space of cool bank to small bulbs and hardy ferns, planting the +ferns in such groups as will leave good spaces for the bulbs; then as +their leaves are going the fern fronds are developing and will cover the +whole space. Another way is to have them among any groups of newly +planted small shrubs, to be left there for spring blooming until the +shrubs have covered their allotted space. + +Many flowering shrubs are in beauty. _Andromeda floribunda_ still holds +its persistent bloom that has endured for nearly two months. The thick, +drooping, tassel-like bunches of bloom of _Andromeda japonica_ are just +going over. _Magnolia stellata_, a compact bush some five feet high and +wide, is white with the multitude of its starry flowers; individually +they look half double, having fourteen to sixteen petals. _Forsythia +suspensa_, with its graceful habit and tender yellow flower, is a much +better shrub than _F. viridissima_, though, strangely enough, that is +the one most commonly planted. Corchorus, with its bright-yellow balls, +the fine old rosy Ribes, the Japan Quinces and their salmon-coloured +relative _Pyrus Mauleii_, _Spiraea Thunbergi_, with its neat habit and +myriads of tiny flowers, these make frequent points of beauty and +interest. + +In the rock-garden, _Cardamine trifoliata_ and _Hutchinsia alpina_ are +conspicuous from their pure white flowers and neat habit; both have +leaves of darkest green, as if the better to show off the bloom. +_Ranunculus montanus_ fringes the cool base of a large stone; its whole +height not over three inches, though its bright-yellow flowers are +larger than field buttercups. The surface of the petals is curiously +brilliant, glistening and flashing like glass. _Corydalis capnoides_ is +a charming rock-plant, with flowers of palest sulphur colour, one of the +neatest and most graceful of its family. + +[Illustration: MAGNOLIA STELLATA.] + +[Illustration: DAFFODILS AMONG JUNIPERS WHERE GARDEN JOINS COPSE.] + +Border plants are pushing up vigorous green growth; finest of all are +the Veratrums, with their bold, deeply-plaited leaves of brilliant +green. Delphiniums and Oriental Poppies have also made strong foliage, +and Daylilies are conspicuous from their fresh masses of pale greenery. +Flag Iris have their leaves three parts grown, and Paeonies are a foot or +more high, in all varieties of rich red colouring. It is a good plan, +when they are in beds or large groups, to plant the dark-flowered +Wallflowers among them, their colour making a rich harmony with the reds +of the young Paeony growths. + +There are balmy days in mid-April, when the whole garden is fragrant +with Sweetbriar. It is not "fast of its smell," as Bacon says of the +damask rose, but gives it so lavishly that one cannot pass near a plant +without being aware of its gracious presence. Passing upward through the +copse, the warm air draws a fragrance almost as sweet, but infinitely +more subtle, from the fresh green of the young birches; it is like a +distant whiff of Lily of the Valley. Higher still the young leafage of +the larches gives a delightful perfume of the same kind. It seems as if +it were the office of these mountain trees, already nearest the high +heaven, to offer an incense of praise for their new life. + +Few plants will grow under Scotch fir, but a notable exception is the +Whortleberry, now a sheet of brilliant green, and full of its +arbutus-like, pink-tinged flower. This plant also has a pleasant scent +in the mass, difficult to localise, but coming in whiffs as it will. + +The snowy Mespilus (_Amelanchier_) shows like puffs of smoke among the +firs and birches, full of its milk-white, cherry-like bloom--a true +woodland shrub or small tree. It loves to grow in a thicket of other +trees, and to fling its graceful sprays about through their branches. It +is a doubtful native, but naturalised and plentiful in the neighbouring +woods. As seen in gardens, it is usually a neat little tree of shapely +form, but it is more beautiful when growing at its own will in the high +woods. + +Marshy hollows in the valleys are brilliant with Marsh Marigold (_Caltha +palustris_); damp meadows have them in plenty, but they are largest and +handsomest in the alder-swamps of our valley bottoms, where their great +luscious clumps rise out of pools of black mud and water. + +_Adonis vernalis_ is one of the brightest flowers of the middle of +April, the flowers looking large for the size of the plant. The +bright-yellow, mostly eight-petalled, blooms are comfortably seated in +dense, fennel-like masses of foliage. It makes strong tufts, that are +the better for division every four years. The spring Bitter-vetch +(_Orobus vernus_) blooms at the same time, a remarkably clean-looking +plant, with its cheerful red and purple blossom and handsomely divided +leaves. It is one of the toughest of plants to divide, the mass of +black root is like so much wire. It is a good plan with plants that have +such roots, when dividing-time comes, to take the clumps to a strong +bench or block and cut them through at the crown with a sharp +cold-chisel and hammer. Another of the showiest families of plants of +the time is _Doronicum_. _D. Austriacum_ is the earliest, but it is +closely followed by the fine _D. Plantagineum_. The large form of wood +Forget-me-not (_Myosotis sylvatica major_) is in sheets of bloom, +opening pink and changing to a perfect blue. This is a great improvement +on the old smaller one. Grouped with it, as an informal border, and in +patches running through and among its clumps, is the Foam-flower +(_Tiarella cordifolia_), whose flower in the mass looks like the wreaths +of foam tossed aside by a mountain torrent. By the end of the month the +Satin-leaf (_Heuchera Richardsoni_) is pushing up its richly-coloured +leaves, of a strong bronze-red, gradating to bronze-green at the outer +edge. The beauty of the plant is in the colour and texture of the +foliage. To encourage full leaf growth the flower stems should be +pinched out, and as they push up rather persistently, they should be +looked over every few days for about a fortnight. + +[Illustration: TIARELLA CORDIFOLIA. (_Height, 12 inches._)] + +[Illustration: HOLLYHOCK, PINK BEAUTY. (_See page 105._) (_Height, 9 +feet._)] + +The Primrose garden is now in beauty, but I have so much to say about it +that I have given it a chapter to itself towards the end of the book. + +The Scotch firs are shedding their pollen; a flowering branch shaken or +struck with a stick throws out a pale-yellow cloud. Heavy rain will +wash it out, so that after a storm the sides of the roads and paths look +as if powdered sulphur had been washed up in drifts. The sun has gained +great power, and on still bright days sharp _snicking_ sounds are to be +heard from the firs. The dry cones of last year are opening, and the +flattened seeds with their paper-like edges are fluttering down. Another +sound, much like it but just a shade sharper and more _staccato_, is +heard from the Gorse bushes, whose dry pods are flying open and letting +fall the hard, polished, little bean-like seeds. + +Border Auriculas are making a brave show. Nothing in the flower year is +more interesting than a bed of good seedlings of the Alpine class. I +know nothing better for pure beauty of varied colouring among early +flowers. Except in varieties of _Salpiglossis_, such rich gradation of +colour, from pale lilac to rich purple, and from rosy pink to deepest +crimson, is hardly to be found in any one family of plants. There are +varieties of cloudings of smoky-grey, sometimes approaching black, +invading, and at the same time enhancing, the purer colours, and numbers +of shades of half-tones of red and purple, such as are comprised within +the term _murrey_ of heraldry, and tender blooms of one colour, sulphurs +and milk-whites--all with the admirable texture and excellent perfume +that belong to the "Bear's-ears" of old English gardens. For practical +purposes the florist's definition of a good Auricula is of little value; +that is for the show-table, and, as Bacon says, "Nothing to the true +pleasure of a garden." The qualities to look for in the bed of seedlings +are not the narrowing ones of proportion of eye to tube, of exact circle +in the circumference of the individual pip, and so on, but to notice +whether the plant has a handsome look and stands up well, and is a +delightful and beautiful thing as a whole. + +[Illustration: TULIPA RETROFLEXA.] + +[Illustration: LATE SINGLE TULIPS, BREEDERS AND BYBLOEMEN.] + +Tulips are the great garden flowers in the last week of April and +earliest days of May. In this plant also the rule of the show-table is +no sure guide to garden value; for the show Tulip, beautiful though it +is, is of one class alone--namely, the best of the "broken" varieties of +the self-coloured seedlings called "breeders." These seedlings, after +some years of cultivation, change or "break" into a variation in which +the original colouring is only retained in certain flames or feathers of +colour, on a ground of either white or yellow. If the flames in each +petal are symmetrical and well arranged, according to the rules laid +down by the florist, it is a good flower; it receives a name, and +commands a certain price. If, on the other hand, the markings are +irregular, however beautiful the colouring, the flower is comparatively +worthless, and is "thrown into mixture." The kinds that are the grandest +in gardens are ignored by the florist. One of the best for graceful and +delicate beauty is _Tulipa retroflexa_, of a soft lemon-yellow colour, +and twisted and curled petals; then Silver Crown, a white flower with a +delicate picotee-like thread of scarlet along the edge of the sharply +pointed and reflexed petals. A variety of this called Sulphur Crown is +only a little less beautiful. Then there is Golden Crown, also with +pointed petals and occasional threadings of scarlet. Nothing is more +gorgeous than the noble _Gesneriana major_, with its great chalice of +crimson-scarlet and pools of blue in the inner base of each petal. The +gorgeously flamed Parrot Tulips are indispensable, and the large double +Yellow Rose, and the early double white La Candeur. Of the later kinds +there are many of splendid colouring and noble port; conspicuous among +them are _Reine d'Espagne_, _Couleur de vin_, and _Bleu celeste_. There +are beautiful colourings of scarlet, crimson, yellow, chocolate, and +purple among the "breeders," as well as among the so-called _bizarres_ +and _bybloemen_ that comprise the show kinds. + +The best thing now in the rock-garden is a patch of some twenty plants +of _Arnebia echioides_, always happy in our poor, dry soil. It is of the +Borage family, a native of Armenia. It flowers in single or +double-branching spikes of closely-set flowers of a fine yellow. Just +below each indentation of the five-lobed corolla is a spot which looks +black by contrast, but is of a very dark, rich, velvety brown. The day +after the flower has expanded the spot has faded to a moderate brown, +the next day to a faint tinge, and on the fourth day it is gone. The +legend, accounting for the spots, says that Mahomet touched the flower +with the tips of his fingers, hence its English name of Prophet-flower. + +The upper parts of the rock-garden that are beyond hand-reach are +planted with dwarf shrubs, many of them sweetly scented either as to +leaf or flower--_Gaultherias_, Sweet Gale, Alpine Rhododendron, +_Skimmias_, _Pernettyas_, _Ledums_, and hardy Daphnes. _Daphne pontica_ +now gives off delicious wafts of fragrance, intensely sweet in the +evening. + +In March and April Daffodils are the great flowers for house decoration, +coming directly after the Lent Hellebores. Many people think these +beautiful late-flowering Hellebores useless for cutting because they +live badly in water. But if properly prepared they live quite well, and +will remain ten days in beauty. Directly they are cut, and immediately +before putting in water, the stalks should be slit up three or four +inches, or according to their length, and then put in deep, so that the +water comes nearly up to the flowers; and so they should remain, in a +cool place, for some hours, or for a whole night, after which they can +be arranged for the room. Most of them are inclined to droop; it is the +habit of the plant in growth; this may be corrected by arranging them +with something stiff like Box or Berberis. + +_Anemone fulgens_ is a grand cutting flower, and looks well with its own +leaves only or with flowering twigs of Laurustinus. Then there are +Pansies, delightful things in a room, but they should be cut in whole +branches of leafy stem and flower and bud. At first the growths are +short and only suit dish-shaped things, but as the season goes on they +grow longer and bolder, and graduate first into bowls and then into +upright glasses. I think Pansies are always best without mixture of +other flowers, and in separate colours, or only in such varied tints as +make harmonies of one class of colour at a time. + +The big yellow and white bunch Primroses are delightful room flowers, +beautiful, and of sweetest scent. When full-grown the flower-stalks are +ten inches long and more. Among the seedlings there are always a certain +number that are worthless. These are pounced upon as soon as they show +their bloom, and cut up for greenery to go with the cut flowers, leaving +the root-stock with all its middle foliage, and cutting away the roots +and any rough outside leaves. + +When the first Daffodils are out and suitable greenery is not abundant +in the garden (for it does not do to cut their own blades), I bring home +handfuls of the wild Arum leaves, so common in roadside hedges, grasping +the whole plant close to the ground; then a steady pull breaks it away +from the tuber, and you have a fine long-stalked sheaf of leafage held +together by its own underground stem. This should be prepared like the +Lent Hellebores, by putting it deep in water for a time. I always think +the trumpet Daffodils look better with this than with any other kind of +foliage. When the wild Arum is full-grown the leaves are so large and +handsome that they do quite well to accompany the white Arum flowers +from the greenhouse. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +MAY + +Cowslips -- Morells -- Woodruff -- Felling oak timber -- Trillium and +other wood-plants -- Lily of the Valley naturalised -- Rock-wall flowers +-- Two good wall-shrubs -- Queen wasps -- Rhododendrons -- Arrangement +for colour -- Separate colour-groups -- Difficulty of choosing -- Hardy +Azaleas -- Grouping flowers that bloom together -- Guelder-rose as +climber -- The garden-wall door -- The Paeony garden -- Moutans -- Paeony +varieties -- Species desirable for garden. + + +While May is still young, Cowslips are in beauty on the chalk lands a +few miles distant, but yet within pleasant reach. They are finest of all +in orchards, where the grass grows tall and strong under the half-shade +of the old apple-trees, some of the later kinds being still loaded with +bloom. The blooming of the Cowslip is the signal for a search for the +Morell, one of the very best of the edible fungi. It grows in open woods +or where the undergrowth has not yet grown high, and frequently in old +parks and pastures near or under elms. It is quite unlike any other +fungus; shaped like a tall egg, with the pointed end upwards, on a +short, hollow stalk, and looking something like a sponge. It has a +delicate and excellent flavour, and is perfectly wholesome. + +The pretty little Woodruff is in flower; what scent is so delicate as +that of its leaves? They are almost sweeter when dried, each little +whorl by itself, with the stalk cut closely away above and below. It is +a pleasant surprise to come upon these fragrant little stars between the +leaves of a book. The whole plant revives memories of rambles in +Bavarian woodlands, and of Mai-trank, that best of the "cup" tribe of +pleasant drinks, whose flavour is borrowed from its flowering tips. + +In the first week in May oak-timber is being felled. The wood is +handsomer, from showing the grain better, when it is felled in the +winter, but it is delayed till now because of the value of the bark for +tanning, and just now the fast-rising sap makes the bark strip easily. A +heavy fall is taking place in the fringes of a large wood of old Scotch +fir. Where the oaks grow there is a blue carpet of wild Hyacinth; the +pathway is a slightly hollowed lane, so that the whole sheet of flower +right and left is nearly on a level with the eye, and looks like solid +pools of blue. The oaks not yet felled are putting forth their leaves of +golden bronze. The song of the nightingale and the ring of the woodman's +axe gain a rich musical quality from the great fir wood. Why a wood of +Scotch fir has this wonderful property of a kind of musical +reverberation I do not know; but so it is. Any sound that occurs within +it is, on a lesser scale, like a sound in a cathedral. The tree itself +when struck gives a musical note. Strike an oak or an elm on the trunk +with a stick, and the sound is mute; strike a Scotch fir, and it is a +note of music. + +[Illustration: TRILLIUM IN THE WILD GARDEN.] + +In the copse are some prosperous patches of the beautiful North American +Wood-lily (_Trillium grandiflorum_). It likes a bed of deep leaf-soil on +levels or cool slopes in woodland, where its large white flowers and +whorls of handsome leaves look quite at home. Beyond it are widely +spreading patches of Solomon's Seal and tufts of the Wood-rush (_Luzula +sylvatica_), showing by their happy vigour how well they like their +places, while the natural woodland carpet of moss and dead leaves puts +the whole together. Higher in the copse the path runs through stretches +of the pretty little _Smilacina bifolia_, and the ground beyond this is +a thick bed of Whortleberry, filling all the upper part of the copse +under oak and birch and Scotch fir. The little flower-bells of the +Whortleberry have already given place to the just-formed fruit, which +will ripen in July, and be a fine feast for the blackbirds. + +Other parts of the copse, where there was no Heath or Whortleberry, were +planted thinly with the large Lily of the Valley. It has spread and +increased and become broad sheets of leaf and bloom, from which +thousands of flowers can be gathered without making gaps, or showing +that any have been removed; when the bloom is over the leaves still +stand in handsome masses till they are hidden by the fast-growing +bracken. They do not hurt each other, as it seems that the Lily of the +Valley, having the roots running just underground, while the fern-roots +are much deeper, the two occupy their respective _strata_ in perfect +good fellowship. The neat little _Smilacina_ is a near relation of the +Lily of the Valley; its leaves are of an even more vivid green, and its +little modest spikes of white flower are charming. It loves the poor, +sandy soil, and increases in it fast, but will have nothing to say to +clay. A very delicate and beautiful North American fern (_Dicksonia +punctilobulata_) proves a good colonist in the copse. It spreads rapidly +by creeping roots, and looks much like our native _Thelipteris_, but is +of a paler green colour. In the rock-garden the brightest patches of +bloom are shown by the tufts of dwarf Wallflowers; of these, +_Cheiranthus alpinus_ has a strong lemon colour that is of great +brilliancy in the mass, and _C. Marshalli_ is of a dark orange colour, +equally powerful. The curiously-tinted _C. mutabilis_, as its name +implies, changes from a light mahogany colour when just open, first to +crimson and then to purple. In length of life _C. alpinus_ and _C. +Marshalli_ are rather more than biennials, and yet too short-lived to be +called true perennials; cuttings of one year flower the next, and are +handsome tufts the year after, but are scarcely worth keeping longer. +_C. mutabilis_ is longer lived, especially if the older growths are cut +right away, when the tuft will generally spring into vigorous new life. + +_Orobus aurantiacus_ is a beautiful plant not enough grown, one of the +handsomest of the Pea family, with flowers of a fine orange colour, and +foliage of a healthy-looking golden-green. A striking and handsome plant +in the upper part of the rockery is _Othonna cheirifolia_; its aspect is +unusual and interesting, with its bunches of thick, blunt-edged leaves +of blue-grey colouring, and large yellow daisy flowers. There is a +pretty group of the large white Thrift, and near it a spreading carpet +of blue Veronica and some of the splendid gentian-blue _Phacelia +campanularia_, a valuable annual for filling any bare patches of rockery +where its brilliant colouring will suit the neighbouring plants, or, +best of all, in patches among dwarf ferns, where its vivid blue would be +seen to great advantage. + +Two wall-shrubs have been conspicuously beautiful during May; the +Mexican Orange-flower (_Choisya ternata_) has been smothered in its +white bloom, so closely resembling orange-blossom. With a slight winter +protection of fir boughs it seems quite at home in our hot, dry soil, +grows fast, and is very easy to propagate by layers. When cut, it lasts +for more than a week in water. _Piptanthus nepalensis_ has also made a +handsome show, with its abundant yellow, pea-shaped bloom and deep-green +trefoil leaves. The dark-green stems have a slight bloom on a +half-polished surface, and a pale ring at each joint gives them somewhat +the look of bamboos. + +Now is the time to look out for the big queen wasps and to destroy as +many as possible. They seem to be specially fond of the flowers of two +plants, the large perennial Cornflower (_Centaurea montana_) and the +common Cotoneaster. I have often secured a dozen in a few minutes on one +or other of these plants, first knocking them down with a battledore. + +Now, in the third week of May, Rhododendrons are in full bloom on the +edge of the copse. The plantation was made about nine years ago, in one +of the regions where lawn and garden were to join the wood. During the +previous blooming season the best nurseries were visited and careful +observations made of colouring, habit, and time of blooming. The space +they were to fill demanded about seventy bushes, allowing an average of +eight feet from plant to plant--not seventy different kinds, but, +perhaps, ten of one kind, and two or three fives, and some threes, and a +few single plants, always bearing in mind the ultimate intention of +pictorial aspect as a whole. In choosing the plants and in arranging and +disposing the groups these ideas were kept in mind: to make pleasant +ways from lawn to copse; to group only in beautiful colour harmonies; to +choose varieties beautiful in themselves; to plant thoroughly well, and +to avoid overcrowding. Plantations of these grand shrubs are generally +spoilt or ineffective, if not absolutely jarring, for want of attention +to these simple rules. The choice of kinds is now so large, and the +variety of colouring so extensive, that nothing can be easier than to +make beautiful combinations, if intending planters will only take the +small amount of preliminary trouble that is needful. Some of the +clumps are of brilliant scarlet-crimson, rose and white, but out of the +great choice of colours that might be so named only those are chosen +that make just the colour-harmony that was intended. A large group, +quite detached from this one, and more in the shade of the copse, is of +the best of the lilacs, purples, and whites. When some clumps of young +hollies have grown, those two groups will not be seen at the same time, +except from a distance. The purple and white group is at present rather +the handsomest, from the free-growing habit of the fine old kind _Album +elegans_, which forms towering masses at the back. A detail of pictorial +effect that was aimed at, and that has come out well, was devised in the +expectation that the purple groups would look richer in the shade, and +the crimson ones in the sun. This arrangement has answered admirably. +Before planting, the ground, of the poorest quality possible, was deeply +trenched, and the Rhododendrons were planted in wide holes filled with +peat, and finished with a comfortable "mulch," or surface-covering of +farmyard manure. From this a supply of grateful nutriment was gradually +washed in to the roots. This beneficial surface-dressing was renewed +every year for two years after planting, and even longer in the case of +the slower growing kinds. No plant better repays care during its early +years. Broad grass paths leading from the lawn at several points pass +among the clumps, and are continued through the upper parts of the +copse, passing through zones of different trees; first a good stretch +of birch and holly, then of Spanish chestnut, next of oak, and finally +of Scotch fir, with a sprinkling of birch and mountain ash, all with an +undergrowth of heath and whortleberry and bracken. Thirty years ago it +was all a wood of old Scotch fir. This was cut at its best marketable +maturity, and the present young wood is made of what came up self-sown. +This natural wild growth was thick enough to allow of vigorous cutting +out, and the preponderance of firs in the upper part and of birch in the +lower suggested that these were the kinds that should predominate in +their respective places. + +[Illustration: RHODODENDRONS WHERE THE COPSE AND GARDEN MEET.] + +It may be useful to describe a little more in detail the plan I followed +in grouping Rhododendrons, for I feel sure that any one with a feeling +for harmonious colouring, having once seen or tried some such plan, will +never again approve of the haphazard mixtures. There may be better +varieties representing the colourings aimed at in the several groups, +but those named are ones that I know, and they will serve as well as any +others to show what is meant. + +The colourings seem to group themselves into six classes of easy +harmonies, which I venture to describe thus:-- + +1. Crimsons inclining to scarlet or blood-colour grouped with dark +claret-colour and true pink. + +In this group I have planted Nigrescens, dark claret-colour; John +Waterer and James Marshall Brook, both fine red-crimsons; Alexander +Adie and Atrosanguineum, good crimsons, inclining to blood-colour; +Alarm, rosy-scarlet; and Bianchi, pure pink. + +2. Light scarlet rose colours inclining to salmon, a most desirable +range of colour, but of which the only ones I know well are Mrs. R. S. +Holford, and a much older kind, Lady Eleanor Cathcart. These I put by +themselves, only allowing rather near them the good pink Bianchi. + +3. Rose colours inclining to amaranth. + +4. Amaranths or magenta-crimsons. + +5. Crimson or amaranth-purples. + +6. Cool clear purples of the typical _ponticum_ class, both dark and +light, grouped with lilac-whites, such as _Album elegans_ and _Album +grandiflorum_. The beautiful partly-double _Everestianum_ comes into +this group, but nothing redder among purples. _Fastuosum florepleno_ is +also admitted, and _Luciferum_ and _Reine Hortense_, both good +lilac-whites. But the purples that are most effective are merely +_ponticum_ seedlings, chosen when in bloom in the nursery for their +depth and richness of cool purple colour. + +My own space being limited, I chose three of the above groups only, +leaving out, as of colouring less pleasing to my personal liking, groups +3, 4, and 5. The remaining ones gave me examples of colouring the most +widely different, and at the same time the most agreeable to my +individual taste. It would have been easier, if that had been the +object, to have made groups of the three other classes of colouring, +which comprise by far the largest number of the splendid varieties now +grown. There are a great many beautiful whites; of these, two that I +most admire are Madame Carvalho and Sappho; the latter is an immense +flower, with a conspicuous purple blotch. There is also a grand old kind +called Minnie, a very large-growing one, with fine white trusses; and a +dwarf-growing white that comes early into bloom is Cunningham's White, +also useful for forcing, as it is a small plant, and a free bloomer. + +[Illustration: GRASS WALKS THROUGH THE COPSE.] + +Nothing is more perplexing than to judge of the relative merits of +colours in a Rhododendron nursery, where they are all mixed up. I have +twice been specially to look for varieties of a true pink colour, but +the quantity of untrue pinks is so great that anything approaching a +clear pink looks much better than it is. In this way I chose Kate +Waterer and Sylph, both splendid varieties; but when I grew them with my +true pink Bianchi they would not do, the colour having the suspicion of +rank quality that I wished to keep out of that group. This same Bianchi, +with its mongrel-sounding name, I found was not grown in the larger +nurseries. I had it from Messrs. Maurice Young, of the Milford +Nurseries, near Godalming. I regretted to hear lately from some one to +whom I recommended it that it could not be supplied. It is to be hoped +that so good a thing has not been lost. + +A little way from the main Rhododendron clumps, and among bushy +Andromedas, I have the splendid hybrid of _R. Aucklandi_, raised by +Mr. A. Waterer. The trusses are astoundingly large, and the individual +blooms large and delicately beautiful, like small richly-modelled lilies +of a tender, warm, white colour. It is quite hardy south of London, and +unquestionably desirable. Its only fault is leggy growth; one year's +growth measures twenty-three inches, but this only means that it should +be planted among other bushes. + +[Illustration: RHODODENDRONS AT THE EDGE OF THE COPSE.] + +The last days of May see hardy Azaleas in beauty. Any of them may be +planted in company, for all their colours harmonise. In this garden, +where care is taken to group plants well for colour, the whites are +planted at the lower and more shady end of the group; next come the pale +yellows and pale pinks, and these are followed at a little distance by +kinds whose flowers are of orange, copper, flame, and scarlet-crimson +colourings; this strong-coloured group again softening off at the upper +end by strong yellows, and dying away into the woodland by bushes of the +common yellow _Azalea pontica_, and its variety with flowers of larger +size and deeper colour. The plantation is long in shape, straggling over +a space of about half an acre, the largest and strongest-coloured group +being in an open clearing about midway in the length. The ground between +them is covered with a natural growth of the wild Ling (_Calluna_) and +Whortleberry, and the small, white-flowered Bed-straw, with the +fine-bladed Sheep's-fescue grass, the kind most abundant in heathland. +The surrounding ground is copse, of a wild, forest-like character, of +birch and small oak. A wood-path of wild heath cut short winds through +the planted group, which also comprises some of the beautiful +white-flowered Californian _Azalea occidentalis_, and bushes of some of +the North American Vacciniums. + +Azaleas should never be planted among or even within sight of +Rhododendrons. Though both enjoy a moist peat soil, and have a near +botanical relationship, they are incongruous in appearance, and +impossible to group together for colour. This must be understood to +apply to the two classes of plants of the hardy kinds, as commonly grown +in gardens. There are tender kinds of the East Indian families that are +quite harmonious, but those now in question are the ordinary varieties +of so-called Ghent Azaleas, and the hardy hybrid Rhododendrons. In the +case of small gardens, where there is only room for one bed or clump of +peat plants, it would be better to have a group of either one or the +other of these plants, rather than spoil the effect by the inharmonious +mixture of both. + +I always think it desirable to group together flowers that bloom at the +same time. It is impossible, and even undesirable, to have a garden in +blossom all over, and groups of flower-beauty are all the more enjoyable +for being more or less isolated by stretches of intervening greenery. As +one lovely group for May I recommend Moutan Paeony and _Clematis +montana_, the Clematis on a wall low enough to let its wreaths of bloom +show near the Paeony. The old Guelder Rose or Snowball-tree is beautiful +anywhere, but I think it best of all on the cold side of a wall. Of +course it is perfectly hardy, and a bush of strong, sturdy growth, and +has no need of the wall either for support or for shelter; but I am for +clothing the garden walls with all the prettiest things they can wear, +and no shrub I know makes a better show. Moreover, as there is +necessarily less wood in a flat wall tree than in a round bush, and as +the front shoots must be pruned close back, it follows that much more +strength is thrown into the remaining wood, and the blooms are much +larger. + +I have a north wall eleven feet high, with a Guelder Rose on each side +of a doorway, and a _Clematis montana_ that is trained on the top of the +whole. The two flower at the same time, their growths mingling in +friendly fashion, while their unlikeness of habit makes the +companionship all the more interesting. The Guelder Rose is a +stiff-wooded thing, the character of its main stems being a kind of +stark uprightness, though the great white balls hang out with a certain +freedom from the newly-grown shoots. The Clematis meets it with an +exactly opposite way of growth, swinging down its great swags of +many-flowered garland masses into the head of its companion, with here +and there a single flowering streamer making a tiny wreath on its own +account. + +On the southern sides of the same gateway are two large bushes of the +Mexican Orange-flower (_Choisya ternata_), loaded with its orange-like +bloom. Buttresses flank the doorway on this side, dying away into the +general thickness of the wall above the arch by a kind of roofing of +broad flat stones that lay back at an easy pitch. In mossy hollows at +their joints and angles, some tufts of Thrift and of little Rock Pinks +have found a home, and show as tenderly-coloured tufts of rather dull +pink bloom. Above all is the same white Clematis, some of its abundant +growth having been trained over the south side, so that this one plant +plays a somewhat important part in two garden-scenes. + +Through the gateway again, beyond the wall northward and partly within +its shade, is a portion of ground devoted to Paeonies, in shape a long +triangle, whose proportion in length is about thrice its breadth +measured at the widest end. A low cross-wall, five feet high, divides it +nearly in half near the Guelder Roses, and it is walled again on the +other long side of the triangle by a rough structure of stone and earth, +which, in compliment to its appearance, we call the Old Wall, of which I +shall have something to say later. Thus the Paeonies are protected all +round, for they like a sheltered place, and the Moutans do best with +even a little passing shade at some time of the day. Moutan is the +Chinese name for Tree Paeony. For an immense hardy flower of beautiful +colouring what can equal the salmon-rose Moutan Reine Elizabeth? Among +the others that I have, those that give me most pleasure are Baronne +d'Ales and Comtesse de Tuder, both pinks of a delightful quality, and +a lovely white called Bijou de Chusan. The Tree Paeonies are also +beautiful in leaf; the individual leaves are large and important, and so +carried that they are well displayed. Their colour is peculiar, being +bluish, but pervaded with a suspicion of pink or pinkish-bronze, +sometimes of a metallic quality that faintly recalls some of the +variously-coloured alloys of metal that the Japanese bronze-workers make +and use with such consummate skill. + +[Illustration: SOUTH SIDE OF DOOR, WITH CLEMATIS MONTANA AND CHOISYA.] + +[Illustration: NORTH SIDE OF THE SAME DOOR, WITH CLEMATIS MONTANA AND +GUELDER-ROSE.] + +It is a matter of regret that varieties of the better kinds of Moutans +are not generally grown on their own roots, and still more so that the +stock in common use should not even be the type Tree Paeony, but one of +the herbaceous kinds, so that we have plants of a hard-wooded shrub +worked on a thing as soft as a Dahlia root. This is probably the reason +why they are so difficult to establish, and so slow to grow, especially +on light soils, even when their beds have been made deep and liberally +enriched with what one judges to be the most gratifying comfort. Every +now and then, just before blooming time, a plant goes off all at once, +smitten with sudden death. At the time of making my collection I was +unable to visit the French nurseries where these plants are so admirably +grown, and whence most of the best kinds have come. I had to choose them +by the catalogue description--always an unsatisfactory way to any one +with a keen eye for colour, although in this matter the compilers of +foreign catalogues are certainly less vague than those of our own. Many +of the plants therefore had to be shifted into better groups for colour +after their first blooming, a matter the more to be regretted as Paeonies +dislike being moved. + +The other half of the triangular bit of Paeony ground--the pointed +end--is given to the kinds I like best of the large June-flowered +Paeonies, the garden varieties of the Siberian _P. albiflora_, popularly +known as Chinese Paeonies. Though among these, as is the case with all +the kinds, there is a preponderance of pink or rose-crimson colouring of +a decidedly rank quality, yet the number of varieties is so great, that +among the minority of really good colouring there are plenty to choose +from, including a good number of beautiful whites and whites tinged with +yellow. Of those I have, the kinds I like best are-- + + Hypatia, pink. + Madame Benare, salmon-rose. + The Queen, pale salmon-rose. + Leonie, salmon-rose. + Virginie, warm white. + Solfaterre, pale yellow. + Edouard Andre, deep claret. + Madame Calot, flesh pink. + Madame Breon. + Alba sulfurea. + Triomphans gandavensis. + Carnea elegans (Guerin). + Curiosa, pink and blush. + Prince Pierre Galitzin, blush. + Eugenie Verdier, pale pink. + Elegans superbissima, yellowish-white. + Virgo Maria, white. + Philomele, blush. + Madame Dhour, rose. + Duchesse de Nemours, yellow-white. + Faust. + Belle Douaisienne. + Jeanne d'Arc. + Marie Lemoine. + +Many of the lovely flowers in this class have a rather strong, sweet +smell, something like a mixture of the scents of Rose and Tulip. + +Then there are the old garden Paeonies, the double varieties of _P. +officinalis_. They are in three distinct colourings--full rich crimson, +crimson-rose, and pale pink changing to dull white. These are the +earliest to flower, and with them it is convenient, from the garden +point of view, to class some of the desirable species. + +Some years ago my friend Mr. Barr kindly gave me a set of the Paeony +species as grown by him. I wished to have them, not for the sake of +making a collection, but in order to see which were the ones I should +like best to grow as garden flowers. In due time they grew into strong +plants and flowered. A good many had to be condemned because of the raw +magenta colour of the bloom, one or two only that had this defect being +reprieved on account of their handsome foliage and habit. Prominent +among these was _P. decora_, with bluish foliage handsomely displayed, +the whole plant looking strong and neat and well-dressed. Others whose +flower-colour I cannot commend, but that seemed worth growing on account +of their rich masses of handsome foliage, are _P. triternata_ and _P. +Broteri_. Though small in size, the light red flower of _P. lobata_ is +of a beautiful colour. _P. tenuifolia_, in both single and double form, +is an old garden favourite. _P. Wittmanniana_, with its yellow-green +leaves and tender yellow flower, is a gem; but it is rather rare, and +probably uncertain, for mine, alas! had no sooner grown into a fine +clump than it suddenly died. + +All Paeonies are strong feeders. Their beds should be deeply and richly +prepared, and in later years they are grateful for liberal gifts of +manure, both as surface dressings and waterings. + +Friends often ask me vaguely about Paeonies, and when I say, "What kind +of Paeonies?" they have not the least idea. + +Broadly, and for garden purposes, one may put them into three classes-- + +1. Tree Paeonies (_P. moutan_), shrubby, flowering in May. + +2. Chinese Paeonies (_P. albiflora_), herbaceous, flowering in June. + +3. Old garden Paeonies (_P. officinalis_), herbaceous, including some +other herbaceous species. + +I find it convenient to grow Paeony species and Caulescent (Lent) +Hellebores together. They are in a wide border on the north side of the +high wall and partly shaded by it. They are agreed in their liking for +deeply-worked ground with an admixture of loam and lime, for shelter, +and for rich feeding; and the Paeony clumps, set, as it were, in picture +frames of the lower-growing Hellebores, are seen to all the more +advantage. + +[Illustration: FREE CLUSTER-ROSE AS STANDARD IN A COTTAGE GARDEN.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +JUNE + +The gladness of June -- The time of Roses -- Garden Roses -- Reine +Blanche -- The old white Rose -- Old garden Roses as standards -- +Climbing and rambling Roses -- Scotch Briars -- Hybrid Perpetuals a +difficulty -- Tea Roses -- Pruning -- Sweet Peas, autumn sown -- +Elder-trees -- Virginian Cowslip -- Dividing spring-blooming plants -- +Two best Mulleins -- White French Willow -- Bracken. + + +What is one to say about June--the time of perfect young summer, the +fulfilment of the promise of the earlier months, and with as yet no sign +to remind one that its fresh young beauty will ever fade? For my own +part I wander up into the wood and say, "June is here--June is here; +thank God for lovely June!" The soft cooing of the wood-dove, the glad +song of many birds, the flitting of butterflies, the hum of all the +little winged people among the branches, the sweet earth-scents--all +seem to say the same, with an endless reiteration, never wearying +because so gladsome. It is the offering of the Hymn of Praise! The +lizards run in and out of the heathy tufts in the hot sunshine, and as +the long day darkens the night-jar trolls out his strange song, so +welcome because it is the prelude to the perfect summer night; here and +there a glowworm shows its little lamp. June is here--June is here; +thank God for lovely June! + +And June is the time of Roses. I have great delight in the best of the +old garden Roses; the Provence (Cabbage Rose), sweetest of all sweets, +and the Moss Rose, its crested variety; the early Damask, and its red +and white striped kind; the old, nearly single, Reine Blanche. I do not +know the origin of this charming Rose, but by its appearance it should +be related to the Damask. A good many years ago I came upon it in a +cottage garden in Sussex, and thought I had found a white Damask. The +white is a creamy white, the outsides of the outer petals are stained +with red, first showing clearly in the bud. The scent is delicate and +delightful, with a faint suspicion of Magnolia. A few years ago this +pretty old Rose found its way to one of the meetings of the Royal +Horticultural Society, where it gained much praise. It was there that I +recognised my old friend, and learned its name. + +I am fond of the old _Rosa alba_, both single and double, and its +daughter, Maiden's Blush. How seldom one sees these Roses except in +cottage gardens; but what good taste it shows on the cottager's part, +for what Rose is so perfectly at home upon the modest little wayside +porch? + +I have also learnt from cottage gardens how pretty are some of the old +Roses grown as standards. The picture of my neighbour, Mrs. Edgeler, +picking me a bunch from her bush, shows how freely they flower, and what +fine standards they make. I have taken the hint, and have now some big +round-headed standards, the heads a yard through, of the lovely Celeste +and of Madame Plantier, that are worth looking at, though one of them is +rather badly-shaped this year, for my handsome Jack (donkey) ate one +side of it when he was waiting outside the studio door, while his +cart-load of logs for the ingle fire was being unloaded. + +What a fine thing, among the cluster Roses, is the old Dundee Rambler! I +trained one to go up a rather upright green Holly about twenty-five feet +high, and now it has rushed up and tumbles out at the top and sides in +masses of its pretty bloom. It is just as good grown as a "fountain," +giving it a free space where it can spread at will with no training or +support whatever. These two ways I think are much the best for growing +the free, rambling Roses. In the case of the fountain, the branches arch +over and display the flowers to perfection; if you tie your Rose up to a +tall post or train it over an arch or _pergola_, the birds flying +overhead have the best of the show. The Garland Rose, another old sort, +is just as suitable for this kind of growth as Dundee Rambler, and the +individual flowers, of a tender blush-colour, changing to white, are +even more delicate and pretty. + +The newer Crimson Rambler is a noble plant for the same use, in sunlight +gorgeous of bloom, and always brilliant with its glossy bright-green +foliage. Of the many good plants from Japan, this is the best that has +reached us of late years. The Himalayan _Rosa Brunonii_ is loaded with +its clusters of milk-white bloom, that are so perfectly in harmony with +its very long, almost blue leaves. But of all the free-growing Roses, +the most remarkable for rampant growth is _R. polyantha_. One of the +bushes in this garden covers a space thirty-four feet across--more than +a hundred feet round. It forms a great fountain-like mass, covered with +myriads of its small white flowers, whose scent is carried a +considerable distance. Directly the flower is over it throws up rods of +young growth eighteen to twenty feet long; as they mature they arch +over, and next year their many short lateral shoots will be smothered +with bloom. + +Two other Roses of free growth are also great favourites--Madame Alfred +Carriere, with long-stalked loose white flowers, and Emilie Plantier. I +have them on an east fence, where they yield a large quantity of bloom +for cutting; indeed, they have been so useful in this way that I have +planted several more, but this time for training down to an oak trellis, +like the one that supports the row of Bouquet d'Or, in order to bring +the flowers within easier reach. + +Now we look for the bloom of the Burnet Rose (_Rosa spinosissima_), a +lovely native plant, and its garden varieties, the Scotch Briars. The +wild plant is widely distributed in England, though somewhat local. +It grows on moors in Scotland, and on Beachy Head in Sussex, and near +Tenby in South Wales, favouring wild places within smell of the sea. The +rather dusky foliage sets off the lemon-white of the wild, and the clear +white, pink, rose, and pale yellow of the double garden kinds. The hips +are large and handsome, black and glossy, and the whole plant in late +autumn assumes a fine bronzy colouring between ashy black and dusky red. +Other small old garden Roses are coming into bloom. One of the most +desirable, and very frequent in this district, is _Rosa lucida_, with +red stems, highly-polished leaves, and single, fragrant flowers of pure +rosy-pink colour. The leaves turn a brilliant yellow in autumn, and +after they have fallen the bushes are still bright with the coloured +stems and the large clusters of bright-red hips. It is the St. Mark's +Rose of Venice, where it is usually in flower on St. Mark's Day, April +25th. The double variety is the old _Rose d'amour_, now rare in gardens; +its half-expanded bud is perhaps the most daintily beautiful thing that +any Rose can show. + +[Illustration: DOUBLE WHITE SCOTCH BRIAR.] + +After many years of fruitless effort I have to allow that I am beaten in +the attempt to grow the Grand Roses in the Hybrid Perpetual class. They +plainly show their dislike to our dry hill, even when their beds are as +well enriched as I can contrive or afford to make them. The rich loam +that they love has to come many miles from the Weald by hilly roads in +four-horse waggons, and the haulage is so costly that when it arrives I +feel like distributing it with a spoon rather than with the spade. +Moreover, even if a bed is filled with the precious loam, unless +constantly watered the plants seem to feel and resent the two hundred +feet of dry sand and rock that is under them before any moister stratum +is reached. + +But the Tea Roses are more accommodating, and do fairly well, though, of +course, not so well as in a stiffer soil. If I were planting again I +should grow a still larger proportion of the kinds I have now found to +do best. Far beyond all others is Madame Lambard, good alike early and +late, and beautiful at all times. In this garden it yields quite three +times as much bloom as any other; nothing else can approach it either +for beauty or bounty. Viscountess Folkestone, not properly a Tea, but +classed among Hybrid Noisettes, is also free and beautiful and +long-enduring; and Papa Gontier, so like a deeper-coloured Lambard, is +another favourite. Bouquet d'Or is here the strongest of the Dijon Teas. +I grow it in several positions, but most conveniently on a strong bit of +oak post and rail trellis, keeping the long growths tied down, and every +two years cutting the oldest wood right out. It is well to remember that +the tying or pegging down of Roses always makes them bloom better: every +joint from end to end wants to make a good Rose; if the shoots are more +upright, the blooming strength goes more to the top. + +The pruning of Tea Roses is quite different from the pruning required +for the Hybrid Perpetuals. In these the last year's growth is cut +back in March to within two to five eyes from where it leaves the main +branch, according to the strength of the kind. This must not be done +with the Teas. With these the oldest wood is cut right out from the +base, and the blooming shoots left full length. But it is well, towards +the end of July or beginning of August, to cut back the ends of soft +summer shoots in order to give them a chance of ripening what is left. +When an old Tea looks worn out, if cut right down in March or April it +will often throw out vigorous young growth, and quite renew its life. + +[Illustration: PART OF A BUSH OF ROSA POLYANTHA.] + +[Illustration: GARLAND-ROSE, SHOWING NATURAL WAY OF GROWTH.] + +Within the first days of June we can generally pick some Sweet Peas from +the rows sown in the second week of September. They are very much +stronger than those sown in spring. By November they are four inches +high, and seem to gain strength and sturdiness during the winter; for as +soon as spring comes they shoot up with great vigour, and we know that +the spray used to support them must be two feet higher than for those +that are spring-sown. The flower-stalks are a foot long, and many have +four flowers on a stalk. They are sown in shallow trenches; in spring +they are earthed up very slightly, but still with a little trench at the +base of the plants. A few doses of liquid manure are a great help when +they are getting towards blooming strength. + +I am very fond of the Elder-tree. It is a sociable sort of thing; it +seems to like to grow near human habitations. In my own mind it is +certainly the tree most closely associated with the pretty old cottage +and farm architecture of my part of the country; no bush or tree, not +even the apple, seems to group so well or so closely with farm +buildings. When I built a long thatched shed for the many needs of the +garden, in the region of pits and frames, compost, rubbish and +burn-heap, I planted Elders close to the end of the building and on one +side of the yard. They look just right, and are, moreover, every year +loaded with their useful fruit. This is ripe quite early in September, +and is made into Elder wine, to be drunk hot in winter, a comfort by no +means to be despised. My trees now give enough for my own wants, and +there are generally a few acceptable bushels to spare for my cottage +neighbours. + +About the middle of the month the Virginian Cowslip (_Mertensia +virginica_) begins to turn yellow before dying down. Now is the time to +look out for the seeds. A few ripen on the plant, but most of them fall +while green, and then ripen in a few days while lying on the ground. I +shake the seeds carefully out, and leave them lying round the +parent-plant; a week later, when they will be ripe, they are lightly +scratched into the ground. Some young plants of last year's growth I +mark with a bit of stick, in case of wanting some later to plant +elsewhere, or to send away; the plant dies away completely, leaving no +trace above ground, so that if not marked it would be difficult to find +what is wanted. + +[Illustration: LILAC MARIE LEGRAYE. (_See page 23._)] + +[Illustration: FLOWERING ELDER AND PATH FROM GARDEN TO COPSE.] + +This is also the time for pulling to pieces and replanting that good +spring plant, the large variety of _Myosotis dissitiflora_; I always +make sure of divisions, as seed does not come true. _Primula rosea_ +should also be divided now, and planted to grow on in a cool place, such +as the foot of a north or east wall, or be put at once in its place in +some cool, rather moist spot in the rock-garden. Two-year-old plants +come up with thick clumps of matted root that is now useless. I cut off +the whole mass of old root about an inch below the crown, when it can +easily be divided into nice little bits for replanting. Many other +spring-flowering plants may with advantage be divided now, such as +Aubrietia, Arabis, Auricula, Tiarella, and Saxifrage. + +The young Primrose plants, sown in March, have been planted out in their +special garden, and are looking well after some genial rain. + +The great branching Mullein, _Verbascum olympicum_, is just going out of +bloom, after making a brilliant display for a fortnight. It is followed +by the other of the most useful tall, yellow-flowered kinds, _V. +phlomoides_. Both are seen at their best either quite early in the +morning, or in the evening, or in half-shade, as, like all their kind, +they do not expand their bloom in bright sunshine. Both are excellent +plants on poor soils. _V. olympicum_, though classed as a biennial, does +not come to flowering strength till it is three or four years old; but +meanwhile the foliage is so handsome that even if there were no flower +it would be a worthy garden plant. It does well in any waste spaces of +poor soil, where, by having plants of all ages, there will be some to +flower every year. The Mullein moth is sure to find them out, and it +behoves the careful gardener to look for and destroy the caterpillars, +or he may some day find, instead of his stately Mulleins, tall stems +only clothed with unsightly grey rags. The caterpillars are easily +caught when quite small or when rather large; but midway in their +growth, when three-quarters of an inch long, they are wary, and at the +approach of the avenging gardener they will give a sudden wriggling +jump, and roll down into the lower depths of the large foliage, where +they are difficult to find. But by going round the plants twice a day +for about a week they can all be discovered. + +The white variety of the French Willow (_Epilobium angustifolium_) is a +pretty plant in the edges of the copse, good both in sun and shade, and +flourishing in any poor soil. In better ground it grows too rank, +running quickly at the root and invading all its neighbours, so that it +should be planted with great caution; but when grown on poor ground it +flowers at from two feet to four feet high, and its whole aspect is +improved by the proportional amount of flower becoming much larger. + +Towards the end of June the bracken that covers the greater part of the +ground of the copse is in full beauty. No other manner of undergrowth +gives to woodland in so great a degree the true forest-like character. +This most ancient plant speaks of the old, untouched land of which large +stretches still remain in the south of England--land too poor to have +been worth cultivating, and that has therefore for centuries endured +human contempt. In the early part of the present century, William +Cobbett, in his delightful book, "Rural Rides," speaking of the heathy +headlands and vast hollow of Hindhead, in Surrey, calls it "certainly +the most villainous spot God ever made." This gives expression to his +view, as farmer and political economist, of such places as were +incapable of cultivation, and of the general feeling of the time about +lonely roads in waste places, as the fields for the lawless labours of +smuggler and highwayman. Now such tracts of natural wild beauty, clothed +with stretches of Heath and Fern and Whortleberry, with beds of Sphagnum +Moss, and little natural wild gardens of curious and beautiful +sub-aquatic plants in the marshy hollows and undrained wastes, are +treasured as such places deserve to be, especially when they still +remain within fifty miles of a vast city. The height to which the +bracken grows is a sure guide to the depth of soil. On the poorest, +thinnest ground it only reaches a foot or two; but in hollow places +where leaf-mould accumulates and surface soil has washed in and made a +better depth, it grows from six feet to eight feet high, and when +straggling up through bushes to get to the light a frond will sometimes +measure as much as twelve feet. The old country people who have always +lived on the same poor land say, "Where the farn grows tall anything +will grow"; but that only means that there the ground is somewhat better +and capable of cultivation, as its presence is a sure indication of a +sandy soil. The timber-merchants are shy of buying oak trees felled from +among it, the timber of trees grown on the wealden clay being so much +better. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +JULY + +Scarcity of flowers -- Delphiniums -- Yuccas -- Cottager's way of +protecting tender plants -- Alstroemerias -- Carnations -- Gypsophila -- +_Lilium giganteum_ -- Cutting fern-pegs. + + +After the wealth of bloom of June, there appear to be but few flowers in +the garden; there seems to be a time of comparative emptiness between +the earlier flowers and those of autumn. It is true that in the early +days of July we have Delphiniums, the grandest blues of the flower year. +They are in two main groups in the flower border, one of them nearly all +of the palest kind--not a solid clump, but with a thicker nucleus, +thinning away for several yards right and left. Only white and +pale-yellow flowers are grouped with this, and pale, fresh-looking +foliage of maize and Funkia. The other group is at some distance, at the +extreme western end. This is of the full and deeper blues, following a +clump of Yuccas, and grouped about with things of important silvery +foliage, such as Globe Artichoke and Silver Thistle (_Eryngium_). I have +found it satisfactory to grow Delphiniums from seed, choosing the fine +strong "Cantab" as the seed-parent, because the flowers were of a +medium colour--scarcely so light as the name would imply--and because of +its vigorous habit and well-shaped spike. It produced flowers of all +shades of blue, and from these were derived nearly all I have in the +border. I found them better for the purpose in many cases than the named +kinds of which I had a fair collection. + +The seedlings were well grown for two years in nursery lines, worthless +ones being taken out as soon as they showed their character. There is +one common defect that I cannot endure--an interrupted spike, when the +flowers, having filled a good bit of the spike, leave off, leaving a +space of bare stem, and then go on again. If this habit proves to be +persistent after the two years' trial, the plant is condemned. For my +liking the spike must be well filled, but not overcrowded. Many of the +show kinds are too full for beauty; the shape of the individual flower +is lost. Some of the double ones are handsome, but in these the flower +takes another shape, becoming more rosette-like, and thereby loses its +original character. Some are of mixed colouring, a shade of lilac-pink +sliding through pale blue. It is very beautiful in some cases, the +respective tints remaining as clear as in an opal, but in many it only +muddles the flower and makes it ineffective. + +Delphiniums are greedy feeders, and pay for rich cultivation and for +liberal manurial mulches and waterings. In a hot summer, if not well +cared for, they get stunted and are miserable objects, the flower +distorted and cramped into a clumsy-looking, elongated mop-head. + +Though weak in growth the old _Delphinium Belladonna_ has so lovely a +quality of colour that it is quite indispensable; the feeble stem should +be carefully and unobtrusively staked for the better display of its +incomparable blue. + +Some of the Yuccas will bloom before the end of the month. I have them +in bold patches the whole fifteen-feet depth of the border at the +extreme ends, and on each side of the pathway, where, passing from the +lawn to the Paeony ground, it cuts across the border to go through the +arched gateway. The kinds of Yucca are _gloriosa_, _recurva_, +_flaccida_, and _filamentosa_. They are good to look at at all times of +the year because of their grand strong foliage, and are the glory of the +garden when in flower. One of the _gloriosa_ threw up a stout +flower-spike in January. I had thought of protecting and roofing the +spike, in the hope of carrying it safely through till spring, but +meanwhile there came a damp day and a frosty night, and when I saw it +again it was spoilt. The _Yucca filamentosa_ that I have I was told by a +trusty botanist was the true plant, but rather tender, the one commonly +called by that name being something else. I found it in a cottage +garden, where I learnt a useful lesson in protecting plants, namely, the +use of thickly-cut peaty sods. The goodwife had noticed that the peaty +ground of the adjoining common, covered with heath and gorse and mossy +grass, resisted frost much better than the garden or meadow, and it had +been her practice for many years to get some thick dry sods with the +heath left on and to pack them close round to protect tender plants. In +this way she had preserved her Fuchsias of greenhouse kinds, and +Calceolarias, and the Yucca in question. + +The most brilliant mass of flower in early July is given by the beds of +_Alstroemeria aurantiaca_; of this we have three distinct varieties, all +desirable. There is a four feet wide bed, some forty feet long, of the +kind most common in gardens, and at a distance from it a group grown +from selected seed of a paler colour; seedlings of this remain true to +colour, or, as gardeners say, the variety is "fixed." The third sort is +from a good old garden in Ireland, larger in every way than the type, +with petals of great width, and extremely rich in colour. _Alstroemeria +chilense_ is an equally good plant, and beds of it are beautiful in +their varied colourings, all beautifully harmonious, and ranging through +nearly the same tints as hardy Azaleas. These are the best of the +Alstroemerias for ordinary garden culture; they do well in warm, +sheltered places in the poorest soil, but the soil must be deep, for the +bunches of tender, fleshy roots go far down. The roots are extremely +brittle, and must be carefully handled. Alstroemerias are easily raised +from seed, but when the seedlings are planted out the crowns should be +quite four inches under the surface, and have a thick bed of leaves or +some other mild mulching material over them in winter to protect them +from frost, for they are Chilian plants, and demand and deserve a little +surface comfort to carry them safely through the average English winter. + +Sea-holly (_Eryngium_) is another family of July-flowering plants that +does well on poor, sandy soils that have been deeply stirred. Of these +the more generally useful is _E. Oliverianum_, the _E. amethystinum_ of +nurserymen, but so named in error, the true plant being rare and +scarcely known in gardens. The whole plant has an admirable structure of +a dry and nervous quality, with a metallic colouring and dull lustre +that are in strong contrast to softer types of vegetation. The +black-coated roots go down straight and deep, and enable it to withstand +almost any drought. Equalling it in beauty is _E. giganteum_, the Silver +Thistle, of the same metallic texture, but whitish and almost silvery. +This is a biennial, and should be sown every year. A more lowly plant, +but hardly less beautiful, is the wild Sea-holly of our coasts (_E. +maritimum_), with leaves almost blue, and a handsome tuft of flower +nearly matching them in colour. It occurs on wind-blown sandhills, but +is worth a place in any garden. It comes up rather late, but endures, +apparently unchanged, except for the bloom, throughout the late summer +and autumn. + +But the flower of this month that has the firmest hold of the +gardener's heart is the Carnation--the Clove Gilliflower of our +ancestors. Why the good old name "Gilliflower" has gone out of use it is +impossible to say, for certainly the popularity of the flower has never +waned. Indeed, in the seventeenth century it seems that it was the +best-loved flower of all in England; for John Parkinson, perhaps our +earliest writer on garden plants, devotes to it a whole chapter in his +"Paradisus Terrestris," a distinction shared by no other flower. He +describes no less than fifty kinds, a few of which are still to be +recognised, though some are lost. For instance, what has become of the +"_great gray Hulo_" which he describes as a plant of the largest and +strongest habit? The "gray" in this must refer to the colour of the +leaf, as he says the flower is red; but there is also a variety called +the "_blew Hulo_," with flowers of a "purplish murrey" colouring, +answering to the slate colour that we know as of not unfrequent +occurrence. The branch of the family that we still cultivate as "Painted +Lady" is named by him "Dainty Lady," the present name being no doubt an +accidental and regrettable corruption. But though some of the older +sorts may be lost, we have such a wealth of good known kinds that this +need hardly be a matter of regret. The old red Clove always holds its +own for hardiness, beauty, and perfume; its newer and dwarfer variety, +Paul Engleheart, is quite indispensable, while the beautiful +salmon-coloured Raby is perhaps the most useful of all, with its hardy +constitution and great quantity of bloom. But it is difficult to grow +Carnations on our very poor soil; even when it is carefully prepared +they still feel its starving and drying influence, and show their +distaste by unusual shortness of life. + +_Gypsophila paniculata_ is one of the most useful plants of this time of +year; its delicate masses of bloom are like clouds of flowery mist +settled down upon the flower borders. Shooting up behind and among it is +a tall, salmon-coloured Gladiolus, a telling contrast both in form and +manner of inflorescence. Nothing in the garden has been more +satisfactory and useful than a hedge of the white everlasting Pea. The +thick, black roots that go down straight and deep have been undisturbed +for some years, and the plants yield a harvest of strong white bloom for +cutting that always seems inexhaustible. They are staked with stiff, +branching spray, thrust into the ground diagonally, and not reaching up +too high. This supports the heavy mass of growth without encumbering the +upper blooming part. + +Hydrangeas are well in flower at the foot of a warm wall, and in the +same position are spreading masses of the beautiful _Clematis +Davidiana_, a herbaceous kind, with large, somewhat vine-like leaves, +and flowers of a pale-blue colour of a delicate and uncommon quality. + +The blooming of the _Lilium giganteum_ is one of the great flower events +of the year. It is planted in rather large straggling groups just within +the fringe of the copse. In March the bulbs, which are only just +underground, thrust their sharply-pointed bottle-green tips out of the +earth. These soon expand into heart-shaped leaves, looking much like +Arum foliage of the largest size, and of a bright-green colour and +glistening surface. The groups are so placed that they never see the +morning sun. They require a slight sheltering of fir-bough, or anything +suitable, till the third week of May, to protect the young leaves from +the late frosts. In June the flower-stem shoots up straight and tall, +like a vigorous young green-stemmed tree. If the bulb is strong and the +conditions suitable, it will attain a height of over eleven feet, but +among the flowering bulbs of a group there are sure to be some of +various heights from differently sized bulbs; those whose stature is +about ten feet are perhaps the handsomest. The upper part of the stem +bears the gracefully drooping great white Lily flowers, each bloom some +ten inches long, greenish when in bud, but changing to white when fully +developed. Inside each petal is a purplish-red stripe. In the evening +the scent seems to pour out of the great white trumpets, and is almost +overpowering, but gains a delicate quality by passing through the air, +and at fifty yards away is like a faint waft of incense. In the evening +light, when the sun is down, the great heads of white flower have a +mysterious and impressive effect when seen at some distance through the +wood, and by moonlight have a strangely weird dignity. The flowers only +last a few days, but when they are over the beauty of the plant is by +no means gone, for the handsome leaves remain in perfection till the +autumn, while the growing seed-pods, rising into an erect position, +become large and rather handsome objects. The rapidity and vigour of the +four months' growth from bulb to giant flowering plant is very +remarkable. The stem is a hollow, fleshy tube, three inches in diameter +at the base, and the large radiating roots are like those of a tree. The +original bulb is, of course, gone, but when the plants that have +flowered are taken up at the end of November, offsets are found +clustered round the root; these are carefully detached and replanted. +The great growth of these Lilies could not be expected to come to +perfection in our very poor, shallow soil, for doubtless in their +mountain home in the Eastern Himalayas they grow in deep beds of cool +vegetable earth. Here, therefore, their beds are deeply excavated, and +filled to within a foot of the top with any of the vegetable rubbish of +which only too much accumulates in the late autumn. Holes twelve feet +across and three feet deep are convenient graves for frozen Dahlia-tops +and half-hardy Annuals; a quantity of such material chopped up and +tramped down close forms a cool subsoil that will comfort the Lily bulbs +for many a year. The upper foot of soil is of good compost, and when the +young bulbs are planted, the whole is covered with some inches of dead +leaves that join in with the natural woodland carpet. + +[Illustration: THE GIANT LILY.] + +In the end of July we have some of the hottest of the summer days, only +beginning to cool between six and seven in the evening. One or two +evenings I go to the upper part of the wood to cut some fern-pegs for +pegging Carnation layers, armed with fag-hook and knife and rubber, and +a low rush-bottomed stool to sit on. The rubber is the stone for +sharpening the knife--a long stone of coarse sandstone grit, such as is +used for scythes. Whenever I am at work with a knife there is sure to be +a rubber not far off, for a blunt knife I cannot endure, so there is a +stone in each department of the garden sheds, and a whole series in the +workshop, and one or two to spare to take on outside jobs. The Bracken +has to be cut with a light hand, as the side-shoots that will make the +hook of the peg are easily broken just at the important joint. The +fronds are of all sizes, from two to eight feet long; but the best for +pegs are the moderate-sized, that have not been weakened by growing too +close together. Where they are crowded the main stalk is thick, but the +side ones are thin and weak; whereas, where they get light and air the +side branches are carried on stouter ribs, and make stronger and +better-balanced pegs. The cut fern is lightly laid in a long ridge with +the ends all one way, and the operator sits at the stalk end of the +ridge, a nice cool shady place having been chosen. Four cuts with the +knife make a peg, and each frond makes three pegs in about fifteen +seconds. With the fronds laid straight and handy it goes almost +rhythmically, then each group of three pegs is thrown into the basket, +where they clash on to the others with a hard ringing sound. In about +four days the pegs dry to a surprising hardness; they are better than +wooden ones, and easier and quicker to make. + +People who are not used to handling Bracken should be careful how they +cut a frond with a knife; they are almost sure to get a nasty little cut +on the second joint of the first finger of the right hand--not from the +knife, but from the cut edge of the fern. The stalk has a silicious +coating, that leaves a sharp edge like a thin flake of glass when cut +diagonally with a sharp knife; they should also beware how they pick or +pull off a mature frond, for even if the part of the stalk laid hold of +is bruised and twisted, some of the glassy structure holds together and +is likely to wound the hand. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +AUGUST + +Leycesteria -- Early recollections -- Bank of choice shrubs -- Bank of +Briar Roses -- Hollyhocks -- Lavender -- Lilies -- Bracken and Heaths -- +The Fern-walk -- Late-blooming rock-plants -- Autumn flowers -- Tea +Roses -- Fruit of _Rosa rugosa_ -- Fungi -- Chantarelle. + + +_Leycesteria formosa_ is a soft-wooded shrub, whose beauty, without +being showy, is full of charm and refinement. I remember delighting in +it in the shrub-wilderness of the old home, where I first learnt to know +and love many a good bush and tree long before I knew their names. There +were towering Rhododendrons (all _ponticum_) and Ailanthus and Hickory +and Magnolias, and then Spiraea and Snowball tree and tall yellow Azalea, +and Buttercup bush and shrubby Andromedas, and in some of the clumps +tall Cypresses and the pretty cut-leaved Beech, and in the edges of +others some of the good old garden Roses, double Cinnamon and _R. +lucida_, and Damask and Provence, Moss-rose and Sweetbriar, besides +tall-grown Lilacs and Syringa. It was all rather overgrown, and perhaps +all the prettier, and some of the wide grassy ways were quite shady in +summer. And I look back across the years and think what a fine +lesson-book it was to a rather solitary child; and when I came to plant +my own shrub clump I thought I would put rather near together some of +the old favourites, so here again we come back to Leycesteria, put +rather in a place of honour, and near it Buttercup bush and Andromeda +and Magnolias and old garden Roses. + +[Illustration: CISTUS FLORENTINUS.] + +[Illustration: THE GREAT ASPHODEL.] + +I had no space for a shrub wilderness, but have made a large clump for +just the things I like best, whether new friends or old. It is a long, +low bank, five or six paces wide, highest in the middle, where the +rather taller things are planted. These are mostly Junipers and +Magnolias; of the Magnolias, the kinds are _Soulangeana_, _conspicua_, +_purpurea_, and _stellata_. One end of the clump is all of peat earth; +here are Andromedas, Skimmeas, and on the cooler side the broad-leaved +Gale, whose crushed leaves have almost the sweetness of Myrtle. One long +side of the clump faces south-west, the better to suit the things that +love the sun. At the farther end is a thrifty bush of _Styrax japonica_, +which flowers well in hot summers, but another bush under a south wall +flowers better. It must be a lovely shrub in the south of Europe and +perhaps in Cornwall; here the year's growth is always cut at the tip, +but it flowers well on the older wood, and its hanging clusters of white +bloom are lovely. At its foot, on the sunny side, are low bushy plants +of _Cistus florentinus_. I am told that this specific name is not right; +but the plant so commonly goes by it that it serves the purpose of +popular identification. Then comes _Magnolia stellata_, now a +perfectly-shaped bush five feet through, a sheet of sweet-scented bloom +in April. Much too near it are two bushes of _Cistus ladaniferus_. They +were put there as little plants to grow on for a year in the shelter and +comfort of the warm bank, but were overlooked at the time they ought to +have been shifted, and are now nearly five feet high, and are crowding +the Magnolia. I cannot bear to take them away to waste, and they are +much too large to transplant, so I am driving in some short stakes +diagonally and tying them down by degrees, spreading out their branches +between neighbouring plants. It is an upright-growing Cistus that would +soon cover a tallish wall-space, but this time it must be content to +grow horizontally, and I shall watch to see whether it will flower more +freely, as so many things do when trained down. + +Next comes a patch of the handsome _Bambusa Ragamowski_, dwarf, but with +strikingly-broad leaves of a bright yellow-green colour. It seems to be +a slow grower, or more probably it is slow to grow at first; Bamboos +have a good deal to do underground. It was planted six years ago, a nice +little plant in a pot, and now is eighteen inches high and two feet +across. Just beyond it is the Mastic bush (_Caryopteris mastacanthus_), +a neat, grey-leaved small shrub, crowded in September with lavender-blue +flowers, arranged in spikes something like a Veronica; the whole bush +is aromatic, smelling strongly like highly-refined turpentine. Then +comes _Xanthoceras sorbifolia_, a handsome bush from China, of rather +recent introduction, with saw-edged pinnate leaves and white flowers +earlier in the summer, but now forming its bunches of fruit that might +easily be mistaken for walnuts with their green shucks on. Here a wide +bushy growth of _Phlomis fruticosa_ lays out to the sun, covered in +early summer with its stiff whorls of hooded yellow flowers--one of the +best of plants for a sunny bank in full sun in a poor soil. A little +farther along, and near the path, comes the neat little _Deutzia +parviflora_ and another little shrub of fairy-like delicacy, +_Philadelphus microphyllus_. Behind them is _Stephanandra flexuosa_, +beautiful in foliage, and two good St. John's worts, _Hypericum aureum_ +and _H. Moserianum_, and again in front a Cistus of low, spreading +growth, _C. halimifolius_, or something near it. One or two favourite +kinds of Tree Paeonies, comfortably sheltered by Lavender bushes, fill up +the other end of the clump next to the Andromedas. In all spare spaces +on the sunny side of the shrub-clump is a carpeting of _Megasea +ligulata_, a plant that looks well all the year round, and gives a +quantity of precious flower for cutting in March and April. + +I was nearly forgetting _Pavia macrostachya_, now well established among +the choice shrubs. It is like a bush Horse-chestnut, but more refined, +the white spikes standing well up above the handsome leaves. + +On the cooler side of the clump is a longish planting of dwarf +Andromeda, precious not only for its beauty of form and flower, but from +the fine winter colouring of the leaves, and those two useful Spiraeas, +_S. Thunbergi_, with its countless little starry flowers, and the double +_prunifolia_, the neat leaves of whose long sprays turn nearly scarlet +in autumn. Then there comes a rather long stretch of _Artemisia +Stelleriana_, a white-leaved plant much like _Cineraria maritima_, +answering just the same purpose, but perfectly hardy. It is so much like +the silvery _Cineraria_ that it is difficult to remember that it prefers +a cool and even partly-shaded place. + +Beyond the long ridge that forms the shrub-clump is another, parallel to +it and only separated from it by a path, also in the form of a long low +bank. On the crown of this is the double row of cob-nuts that forms one +side of the nut-alley. It leaves a low sunny bank that I have given to +various Briar Roses and one or two other low, bushy kinds. Here is the +wild Burnet Rose, with its yellow-white single flowers and large black +hips, and its garden varieties, the Scotch Briars, double white, +flesh-coloured, pink, rose, and yellow, and the hybrid briar, Stanwell +Perpetual. Here also is the fine hybrid of _Rosa rugosa_, Madame George +Bruant, and the lovely double _Rosa lucida_, and one or two kinds of +small bush Roses from out-of-the-way gardens, and two wild Roses that +have for me a special interest, as I collected them from their rocky +home in the island of Capri. One is a Sweetbriar, in all ways like the +native one, except that the flowers are nearly white, and the hips are +larger. Last year the bush was distinctly more showy than any other of +its kind, on account of the size and unusual quantity of the fruit. The +other is a form of _Rosa sempervirens_, with rather large white flowers +faintly tinged with yellow. + +[Illustration: LAVENDER HEDGE AND STEPS TO THE LOFT.] + +[Illustration: HOLLYHOCK, PINK BEAUTY.] + +Hollyhocks have been fine, in spite of the disease, which may be partly +checked by very liberal treatment. By far the most beautiful is one of a +pure pink colour, with a wide outer frill. It came first from a cottage +garden, and has always since been treasured. I call it Pink Beauty. The +wide outer petal (a heresy to the florist) makes the flower infinitely +more beautiful than the all-over full-double form that alone is esteemed +on the show-table. I shall hope in time to come upon the same shape of +flower in white, sulphur, rose-colour, and deep blood-crimson, the +colours most worth having in Hollyhocks. + +Lavender has been unusually fine; to reap its fragrant harvest is one of +the many joys of the flower year. If it is to be kept and dried, it +should be cut when as yet only a few of the purple blooms are out on the +spike; if left too late, the flower shakes off the stalk too readily. + +Some plantations of _Lilium Harrisi_ and _Lilium auratum_ have turned +out well. Some of the _Harrisi_ were grouped among tufts of the +bright-foliaged _Funkia grandiflora_ on the cool side of a Yew hedge. +Just at the foot of the hedge is _Tropaeolum speciosum_, which runs up +into it and flowers in graceful wreaths some feet above the ground. The +masses of pure white lily and cool green foliage below are fine against +the dark, solid greenery of the Yew, and the brilliant flowers above are +like little jewels of flame. The Bermuda Lilies (_Harrisi_) are +intergrouped with _L. speciosum_, which will follow them when their +bloom is over. The _L. auratum_ were planted among groups of +Rhododendrons; some of them are between tall Rhododendrons, and have +large clumps of Lady Fern (_Filix foemina_) in front, but those that +look best are between and among Bamboos (_B. Metake_); the heavy heads +of flower borne on tall stems bend gracefully through the Bamboos, which +just give them enough support. + +Here and there in the copse, among the thick masses of green Bracken, is +a frond or two turning yellow. This always happens in the first or +second week of August, though it is no indication of the approaching +yellowing of the whole. But it is taken as a signal that the Fern is in +full maturity, and a certain quantity is now cut to dry for protection +and other winter uses. Dry Bracken lightly shaken over frames is a +better protection than mats, and is almost as easily moved on and off. + +The Ling is now in full flower, and is more beautiful in the landscape +than any of the garden Heaths; the relation of colouring, of greyish +foliage and low-toned pink bloom with the dusky spaces of purplish-grey +shadow, are a precious lesson to the colour-student. + +[Illustration: SOLOMON'S SEAL IN SPRING, IN THE UPPER PART OF THE +FERN-WALK.] + +[Illustration: THE FERN-WALK IN AUGUST.] + +The fern-walk is at its best. It passes from the garden upwards to near +the middle of the copse. The path, a wood-path of moss and grass and +short-cut heath, is a little lower than the general level of the wood. +The mossy bank, some nine feet wide, and originally cleared for the +purpose, is planted with large groups of hardy Ferns, with a +preponderance (due to preference) of Dilated Shield Fern and Lady Fern. +Once or twice in the length of the bank are hollows, sinking at their +lowest part to below the path-level, for _Osmunda_ and _Blechnum_. When +rain is heavy enough to run down the path it finds its way into these +hollow places. + +Among the groups of Fern are a few plants of true +wood-character--_Linnaea_, _Trientalis_, _Goodyera_, and _Trillium_. At +the back of the bank, and stretching away among the trees and underwood, +are wide-spreading groups of Solomon's-seal and Wood-rush, joining in +with the wild growth of Bracken and Bramble. + +Most of the Alpines and dwarf-growing plants, whose home is the +rock-garden, bloom in May or June, but a few flower in early autumn. Of +these one of the brightest is _Ruta patavina_, a dwarf plant with +lemon-coloured flowers and a very neat habit of growth. It soon makes +itself at home in a sunny bank in poor soil. _Pterocephalus parnassi_ is +a dwarf Scabious, with small, grey foliage keeping close to the ground, +and rather large flowers of a low-toned pink. The white Thyme is a +capital plant, perfectly prostrate, and with leaves of a bright +yellow-green, that with the white bloom give the plant a particularly +fresh appearance. It looks at its best when trailing about little flat +spaces between the neater of the hardy Ferns, and hanging over little +rocky ledges. Somewhat farther back is the handsome dwarf _Platycodon +Mariesi_, and behind it the taller Platycodons, among full-flowered +bushes of _Olearia Haasti_. + +By the middle of August the garden assumes a character distinctly +autumnal. Much of its beauty now depends on the many non-hardy plants, +such as Gladiolus, Canna, and Dahlia, on Tritomas of doubtful hardiness, +and on half-hardy annuals--Zinnia, Helichrysum, Sunflower, and French +and African Marigold. Fine as are the newer forms of hybrid Gladiolus, +the older strain of gandavensis hybrids are still the best as border +flowers. In the large flower border, tall, well-shaped spikes of a good +pink one look well shooting up through and between a wide-spreading +patch of glaucous foliage of the smaller Yuccas, _Tritoma caulescens_, +_Iris pallida_, and _Funkia Sieboldi_, while scarlet and salmon-coloured +kinds are among groups of Paeonies that flowered in June, whose leaves +are now taking a fine reddish colouring. Between these and the edge of +the border is a straggling group some yards in length of the +dark-foliaged _Heuchera Richardsoni_, that will hold its satin-surfaced +leaves till the end of the year. Farther back in the border is a group +of the scarlet-flowered Dahlia Fire King, and behind these, Dahlias Lady +Ardilaun and Cochineal, of deeper scarlet colouring. The Dahlias are +planted between groups of Oriental Poppy, that flower in May and then +die away till late in autumn. Right and left of the scarlet group are +Tritomas, intergrouped with Dahlias of moderate height, that have orange +and flame-coloured flowers. This leads to some masses of flowers of +strong yellow colouring; the old perennial Sunflower, in its tall single +form, and the best variety of the old double one of moderate height, the +useful _H. laetiflorus_ and the tall Miss Mellish, the giant form of +_Harpalium rigidum_. _Rudbeckia Newmanni_ reflects the same strong colour +in the front part of the border, and all spaces are filled with orange +Zinnias and African Marigolds and yellow Helichrysum. As we pass along +the border the colour changes to paler yellow by means of a pale +perennial Sunflower and the sulphur-coloured annual kind, with Paris +Daisies, _Oenothera Lamarkiana_ and _Verbascum phlomoides_. The two last +were cut down to about four feet after their earliest bloom was over, +and are now again full of profusely-flowered lateral growths. At the +farther end of the border we come again to glaucous foliage and +pale-pink flower of Gladiolus and Japan Anemone. It is important in such +a border of rather large size, that can be seen from a good space of +lawn, to keep the flowers in rather large masses of colour. No one who +has ever done it, or seen it done, will go back to the old haphazard +sprinkle of colouring without any thought of arrangement, such as is +usually seen in a mixed border. There is a wall of sandstone backing the +border, also planted in relation to the colour-massing in the front +space. This gives a quiet background of handsome foliage, with always in +the flower season some show of colour in one part or another of its +length. Just now the most conspicuous of its clothing shrubs or of the +somewhat tall growing flowers at its foot are a fine variety of +_Bignonia radicans_, a hardy Fuchsia, the Claret Vine covering a good +space, with its red-bronze leaves and clusters of blue-black grapes, the +fine hybrid Crinums and _Clerodendron foetidum_. + +Tea Roses have been unusually lavish of autumn bloom, and some of the +garden climbing Roses, hybrids of China and Noisette, have been of great +beauty, both growing and as room decoration. Many of them flower in +bunches at the end of the shoots; whole branches, cut nearly three feet +long, make charming arrangements in tall glasses or high vases of +Oriental china. Perhaps their great autumnal vigour is a reaction from +the check they received in the earlier part of the year, when the bloom +was almost a failure from the long drought and the accompanying attacks +of blight and mildew. The great hips of the Japanese _Rosa rugosa_ are +in perfection; they have every ornamental quality--size, form, colour, +texture, and a delicate waxlike bloom; their pulp is thick and luscious, +and makes an excellent jam. + +The quantity of fungous growth this year is quite remarkable. The late +heavy rain coming rather suddenly on the well-warmed earth has no doubt +brought about their unusual size and abundance; in some woodland places +one can hardly walk without stepping upon them. Many spots in the copse +are brilliant with large groups of the scarlet-capped Fly Agaric +(_Amanita muscaria_). It comes out of the ground looking like a dark +scarlet ball, generally flecked with raised whitish spots; it quickly +rises on its white stalk, the ball changing to a brilliant flat disc, +six or seven inches across, and lasting several days in beauty. But the +most frequent fungus is the big brown _Boletus_, in size varying from a +small bun to a dinner-plate. Some kinds are edible, but I have never +been inclined to try them, being deterred by their coarse look and +uninviting coat of slimy varnish. And why eat doubtful _Boletus_ when +one can have the delicious Chantarelle (_Cantharellus cibarius_), also +now at its best? In colour and smell it is like a ripe apricot, +perfectly wholesome, and, when rightly cooked, most delicate in flavour +and texture. It should be looked for in cool hollows in oak woods; when +once found and its good qualities appreciated, it will never again be +neglected. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +SEPTEMBER + +Sowing Sweet Peas -- Autumn-sown annuals -- Dahlias -- Worthless kinds +-- Staking -- Planting the rock-garden -- Growing small plants in a wall +-- The old wall -- Dry-walling -- How built -- How planted -- Hyssop -- +A destructive storm -- Berries of Water-elder -- Beginning ground-work. + + +In the second week of September we sow Sweet Peas in shallow trenches. +The flowers from these are larger and stronger and come in six weeks +earlier than from those sown in the spring; they come too at a time when +they are especially valuable for cutting. Many other hardy Annuals are +best sown now. Some indeed, such as the lovely _Collinsia verna_ and the +large white Iberis, only do well if autumn-sown. Among others, some of +the most desirable are Nemophila, Platystemon, Love-in-a-Mist, +Larkspurs, Pot Marigold, Virginian Stock, and the delightful Venus's +Navel-wort (_Omphalodes linifolia_). I always think this daintily +beautiful plant is undeservedly neglected, for how seldom one sees it. +It is full of the most charming refinement, with its milk-white bloom +and grey-blue leaf and neat habit of growth. Any one who has never +before tried Annuals autumn-sown would be astonished at their vigour. A +single plant of Nemophila will often cover a square yard with its +beautiful blue bloom; and then, what a gain it is to have these pretty +things in full strength in spring and early summer, instead of waiting +to have them in a much poorer state later in the year, when other +flowers are in plenty. + +Hardy Poppies should be sown even earlier; August is the best time. + +Dahlias are now at their full growth. To make a choice for one's own +garden, one must see the whole plant growing. As with many another kind +of flower, nothing is more misleading than the evidence of the +show-table, for many that there look the best, and are indeed lovely in +form and colour as individual blooms, come from plants that are of no +garden value. For however charming in humanity is the virtue modesty, +and however becoming is the unobtrusive bearing that gives evidence of +its possession, it is quite misplaced in a Dahlia. Here it becomes a +vice, for the Dahlia's first duty in life is to flaunt and to swagger +and to carry gorgeous blooms well above its leaves, and on no account to +hang its head. Some of the delicately-coloured kinds lately raised not +only hang their heads, but also hide them away among masses of their +coarse foliage, and are doubly frauds, looking everything that is +desirable in the show, and proving worthless in the garden. It is true +that there are ways of cutting out superfluous green stuff and thereby +encouraging the blooms to show up, but at a busy season, when rank +leafage grows fast, one does not want to be every other day tinkering at +the Dahlias. + +Careful and strong staking they must always have, not forgetting one +central stake to secure the main growth at first. It is best to drive +this into the hole made for the plant before placing the root, to avoid +the danger of sending the point of the stake through the tender tubers. +Its height out of the ground should be about eighteen inches less than +the expected stature of the plant. As the Dahlia grows, there should be +at least three outer stakes at such distance from the middle one as may +suit the bulk and habit of the plant; and it is a good plan to have +wooden hoops to tie to these, so as to form a girdle round the whole +plant, and for tying out the outer branches. The hoop should be only +loosely fastened--best with roomy loops of osier, so that it may be +easily shifted up with the growth of the plant. We make the hoops in the +winter of long straight rent rods of Spanish Chestnut, bending them +while green round a tub, and tying them with tarred twine or osier +bands. They last several years. All this care in staking the Dahlias is +labour well bestowed, for when autumn storms come the wind has such a +power of wrenching and twisting, that unless the plant, now grown into a +heavy mass of succulent vegetation, is braced by firm fixing at the +sides, it is in danger of being broken off short just above the ground, +where its stem has become almost woody, and therefore brittle. + +Now is the moment to get to work on the rock-garden; there is no time of +year so precious for this work as September. Small things planted now, +while the ground is still warm, grow at the root at once, and get both +anchor-hold and feeding-hold of the ground before frost comes. Those +that are planted later do not take hold, and every frost heaves them up, +sometimes right out of the ground. Meanwhile those that have got a firm +root-hold are growing steadily all the winter, underground if not above; +and when the first spring warmth comes they can draw upon the reserve of +strength they have been hoarding up, and make good growth at once. + +Except in the case of a rockery only a year old, there is sure to be +some part that wants to be worked afresh, and I find it convenient to do +about a third of the space every year. Many of the indispensable Alpines +and rock-plants of lowly growth increase at a great rate, some spreading +over much more than their due space, the very reason of this +quick-spreading habit being that they are travelling to fresh pasture; +many of them prove it clearly by dying away in the middle of the patch, +and only showing vigorous vitality at the edges. + +Such plants as _Silene alpestris_, _Hutchinsia alpina_, _Pterocephalus_, +the dwarf alpine kinds of _Achillea_ and _Artemisia_, _Veronica_ and +_Linaria_, and the mossy Saxifrages, in my soil want transplanting every +two years, and the silvery Saxifrages every three years. As in much +else, one must watch what happens in one's own garden. We practical +gardeners have no absolute knowledge of the constitution of the plant, +still less of the chemistry of the soil, but by the constant exercise of +watchful care and helpful sympathy we acquire a certain degree of +instinctive knowledge, which is as valuable in its way, and probably +more applicable to individual local conditions, than the tabulated +formulas of more orthodox science. + +One of the best and simplest ways of growing rock-plants is in a loose +wall. In many gardens an abrupt change of level makes a retaining wall +necessary, and when I see this built in the usual way as a solid +structure of brick and mortar--unless there be any special need of the +solid wall--I always regret that it is not built as a home for +rock-plants. An exposure to north or east and the cool backing of a mass +of earth is just what most Alpines delight in. A dry wall, which means a +wall without mortar, may be anything between a wall and a very steep +rock-work, and may be built of brick or of any kind of local stone. I +have built and planted a good many hundred yards of dry walling with my +own hands, both at home and in other gardens, and can speak with some +confidence both of the pleasure and interest of the actual making and +planting, and of the satisfactory results that follow. + +The best example I have to show in my own garden is the so-called "Old +Wall," before mentioned. It is the bounding and protecting fence of the +Paeony ground on its northern side, and consists of a double dry wall +with earth between. An old hedge bank that was to come away was not far +off, within easy wheeling distance. So the wall was built up on each +side, and as it grew, the earth from the hedge was barrowed in to fill +up. A dry wall needs very little foundation; two thin courses +underground are quite enough. The point of most structural importance is +to keep the earth solidly trodden and rammed behind the stones of each +course and throughout its bulk, and every two or three courses to lay +some stones that are extra long front and back, to tie the wall well +into the bank. A local sandstone is the walling material. In the pit it +occurs in separate layers, with a few feet of hard sand between each. +The lowest layer, sometimes thirty to forty feet down, is the best and +thickest, but that is good building stone, and for dry walling we only +want "tops" or "seconds," the later and younger formations of stone in +the quarry. The very roughness and almost rotten state of much of this +stone makes it all the more acceptable as nourishment and root-hold to +the tiny plants that are to grow in its chinks, and that in a few months +will change much of the rough rock-surface to green growth of delicate +vegetation. Moreover, much of the soft sandy stone hardens by exposure +to weather; and even if a stone or two crumbles right away in a few +years' time, the rest will hold firmly, and the space left will make a +little cave where some small fern will live happily. + +The wall is planted as it is built with hardy Ferns--_Blechnum_, +Polypody, Hartstongue, _Adiantum_, _Ceterach_, _Asplenium_, and _Ruta +muraria_. The last three like lime, so a barrow of old mortar-rubbish is +at hand, and the joint where they are to be planted has a layer of their +favourite soil. Each course is laid fairly level as to its front top +edge, stones of about the same thickness going in course by course. The +earth backing is then carefully rammed into the spaces at the uneven +backs of the stones, and a thin layer of earth over the whole course, +where the mortar would have been in a built wall, gives both a "bed" for +the next row of stones and soil for the plants that are to grow in the +joints. + +[Illustration: JACK. (_See page 79._)] + +[Illustration: THE "OLD WALL."] + +The face of the wall slopes backward on both sides, so that its whole +thickness of five feet at the bottom draws in to four feet at the top. +All the stones are laid at a right angle to the plane of the +inclination--that is to say, each stone tips a little down at the back, +and its front edge, instead of being upright, faces a little upward. It +follows that every drop of gentle rain that falls on either side of the +wall is carried into the joints, following the backward and downward +pitch of the stones, and then into the earth behind them. + +The mass of earth in the middle of the wall gives abundant root-room for +bushes, and is planted with bush Roses of three kinds, of which the +largest mass is of _Rosa lucida_. Then there is a good stretch of +Berberis; then Scotch Briars, and in one or two important places +Junipers; then more Berberis, and Ribes, and the common Barberry, and +neat bushes of _Olearia Haastii_. + +The wall was built seven years ago, and is now completely clothed. It +gives me a garden on the top and a garden on each side, and though its +own actual height is only 4-1/2 feet, yet the bushes on the top make it +a sheltering hedge from seven to ten feet high. One small length of +three or four yards of the top has been kept free of larger bushes, and +is planted on its northern edge with a very neat and pretty dwarf kind +of Lavender, while on the sunny side is a thriving patch of the hardy +Cactus (_Opuntia Raffinesquiana_). Just here, in the narrow border at +the foot of the wall, is a group of the beautiful _Crinum Powelli_, +while a white Jasmine clothes the face of the wall right and left, and +rambles into the Barberry bushes just beyond. It so happened that these +things had been planted close together because the conditions of the +place were likely to favour them, and not, as is my usual practice, with +any intentional idea of harmonious grouping. I did not even remember +that they all flower in July, and at nearly the same time; and one day +seeing them all in bloom together, I was delighted to see the success of +the chance arrangement, and how pretty it all was, for I should never +have thought of grouping together pink and lavender, yellow and white. + +The northern face of the wall, beginning at its eastern end, is planted +thus: For a length of ten or twelve paces there are Ferns, Polypody and +Hartstongue, and a few _Adiantum nigrum_, with here and there a Welsh +Poppy. There is a clump of the wild Stitchwort that came by itself, and +is so pretty that I leave it. At the foot of the wall are the same, but +more of the Hartstongue; and here it grows best, for not only is the +place cooler, but I gave it some loamy soil, which it loves. Farther +along the Hartstongue gives place to the wild Iris (_I. foetidissima_), +a good long stretch of it. Nothing, to my mind, looks better than these +two plants at the base of a wall on the cool side. In the upper part of +the wall are various Ferns, and that interesting plant, Wall Pennywort +(_Cotyledon umbilicus_). It is a native plant, but not found in this +neighbourhood; I brought it from Cornwall, where it is so plentiful in +the chinks of the granite stone-fences. It sows itself and grows afresh +year after year, though I always fear to lose it in one of our dry +summers. Next comes the common London Pride, which I think quite the +most beautiful of the Saxifrages of this section. If it was a rare +thing, what a fuss we should make about it! The place is a little dry +for it, but all the same, it makes a handsome spreading tuft hanging +over the face of the wall. When its pink cloud of bloom is at its best, +I always think it the prettiest thing in the garden. Then there is the +Yellow Everlasting (_Gnaphalium orientale_), a fine plant for the upper +edge of the wall, and even better on the sunny side, and the white form +of _Campanula caespitosa_, with its crowd of delicate little white +bells rising in June, from the neatest foliage of tender but lively +green. Then follow deep-hanging curtains of Yellow Alyssum and of hybrid +rock Pinks. The older plants of Alyssum are nearly worn out, but there +are plenty of promising young seedlings in the lower joints. + +[Illustration: ERINUS ALPINUS, CLOTHING STEPS IN ROCK-WALL.] + +Throughout the wall there are patches of Polypody Fern, one of the best +of cool wall-plants, its creeping root-stock always feeling its way +along the joints, and steadily furnishing the wall with more and more of +its neat fronds; it is all the more valuable for being at its best in +early winter, when so few ferns are to be seen. Every year, in some bare +places, I sow a little seed of _Erinus alpinus_, always trying for +places where it will follow some other kind of plant, such as a place +where rock Pink or Alyssum has been. All plants are the better for this +sort of change. In the seven years that the wall has stood, the stones +have become weathered, and the greater part of the north side, wherever +the stone work shows, is hoary with mosses, and looks as if it might +have been standing for a hundred years. + +The sunny side is nearly clear of moss, and I have planted very few +things in its face, because the narrow border at its foot is so precious +for shrubs and plants that like a warm, sheltered place. Here are +several Choisyas and Sweet Verbenas, also _Escallonia_, _Stuartia_, and +_Styrax_, and a long straggling group of some very fine Pentstemons. In +one space that was fairly clear I planted a bit of Hyssop, an old sweet +herb whose scent I delight in; it grows into a thick bush-like plant +full of purple flower in the late summer, when it attracts quantities of +bumble-bees. It is a capital wall-plant, and has sown its own seed, till +there is a large patch on the top and some in its face, and a +broadly-spreading group in the border below. It is one of the plants +that was used in the old Tudor gardens for edgings; the growth is close +and woody at the base, and it easily bears clipping into shape. + +The fierce gales and heavy rains of the last days of September wrought +sad havoc among the flowers. Dahlias were virtually wrecked. Though each +plant had been tied to three stakes, their masses of heavy growth could +not resist the wrenching and twisting action of the wind, and except in +a few cases where they were well sheltered, their heads lay on the +ground, the stems broken down at the last tie. If anything about a +garden could be disheartening, it would be its aspect after such a storm +of wind. Wall shrubs, only lately made safe, as we thought, have great +gaps torn out of them, though tied with tarred string to strong iron +staples, staples and all being wrenched out. Everything looks battered, +and whipped, and ashamed; branches of trees and shrubs lie about far +from their sources of origin; green leaves and little twigs are washed +up into thick drifts; apples and quinces, that should have hung till +mid-October, lie bruised and muddy under the trees. Newly-planted roses +and hollies have a funnel-shaped hole worked in the ground at their +base, showing the power of the wind to twist their heads, and giving +warning of a corresponding disturbance of the tender roots. There is +nothing to be done but to look round carefully and search out all +disasters and repair them as well as may be, and to sweep up the +wreckage and rubbish, and try to forget the rough weather, and enjoy the +calm beauty of the better days that follow, and hope that it may be long +before such another angry storm is sent. And indeed a few quiet days of +sunshine and mild temperature work wonders. In a week one would hardly +know that the garden had been so cruelly torn about. Fresh flowers take +the place of bruised ones, and wholesome young growths prove the +enduring vitality of vegetable life. Still we cannot help feeling, +towards the end of September, that the flower year is nearly at an end, +though the end is a gorgeous one, with its strong yellow masses of the +later perennial Sunflowers and Marigolds, Goldenrod, and a few belated +Gladioli; the brilliant foliage of Virginian Creepers, the leaf-painting +of _Vitis Coignettii_, and the strong crimson of the Claret Vine. + +The Water-elder (_Viburnum opulus_) now makes a brave show in the edge +of the copse. It is without doubt the most beautiful berry-bearing shrub +of mid-September. The fruit hangs in ample clusters from the point of +every branch and of every lateral twig, in colour like the brightest of +red currants, but with a translucent lustre that gives each separate +berry a much brighter look; the whole bush shows fine warm colouring, +the leaves having turned to a rich red. Perhaps it is because it is a +native that this grand shrub or small tree is generally neglected in +gardens, and is almost unknown in nurserymen's catalogues. It is the +parent of the well-known Guelder-Rose, which is merely its +double-flowered form. But the double flower leaves no berry, its +familiar white ball being formed of the sterile part of the flower only, +and the foliage of the garden kind does not assume so bright an autumn +colouring. + +The nights are growing chilly, with even a little frost, and the work +for the coming season of dividing and transplanting hardy plants has +already begun. Plans are being made for any improvements or alterations +that involve ground work. Already we have been at work on some broad +grass rides through the copse that were roughly levelled and laid with +grass last winter. The turf has been raised and hollows filled in, grass +seed sown in bare patches, and the whole beaten and rolled to a good +surface, and the job put out of hand in good time before the leaves +begin to fall. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +OCTOBER + +Michaelmas Daisies -- Arranging and staking -- Spindle-tree -- Autumn +colour of Azaleas -- Quinces -- Medlars -- Advantage of early planting +of shrubs -- Careful planting -- Pot-bound roots -- Cypress hedge -- +Planting in difficult places -- Hardy flower border -- Lifting Dahlias +-- Dividing hardy plants -- Dividing tools -- Plants difficult to divide +-- Periwinkles -- Sternbergia -- Czar Violets -- Deep cultivation for +_Lilium giganteum_. + + +The early days of October bring with them the best bloom of the +Michaelmas Daisies, the many beautiful garden kinds of the perennial +Asters. They have, as they well deserve to have, a garden to themselves. +Passing along the wide path in front of the big flower border, and +through the pergola that forms its continuation, with eye and brain full +of rich, warm colouring of flower and leaf, it is a delightful surprise +to pass through the pergola's last right-hand opening, and to come +suddenly upon the Michaelmas Daisy garden in full beauty. Its clean, +fresh, pure colouring, of pale and dark lilac, strong purple, and pure +white, among masses of pale-green foliage, forms a contrast almost +startling after the warm colouring of nearly everything else; and the +sight of a region where the flowers are fresh and newly opened, and in +glad spring-like profusion, when all else is on the verge of death and +decay, gives an impression of satisfying refreshment that is hardly to +be equalled throughout the year. Their special garden is a wide border +on each side of a path, its length bounded on one side by a tall hedge +of filberts, and on the other side by clumps of yew, holly, and other +shrubs. It is so well sheltered that the strongest wind has its +destructive power broken, and only reaches it as a refreshing +tree-filtered breeze. The Michaelmas Daisies are replanted every year as +soon as their bloom is over, the ground having been newly dug and +manured. The old roots, which will have increased about fourfold, are +pulled or chopped to pieces, nice bits with about five crowns being +chosen for replanting; these are put in groups of three to five +together. Tall-growing kinds like _Novi Belgi_ Robert Parker are kept +rather towards the back, while those of delicate and graceful habit, +such as _Cordifolius elegans_ and its good variety Diana are allowed to +come forward. The fine dwarf _Aster amellus_ is used in rather large +quantity, coming quite to the front in some places, and running in and +out between the clumps of other kinds. Good-sized groups of _Pyrethrum +uliginosum_ are given a place among the Asters, for though of quite +another family, they are Daisies, and bloom at Michaelmas, and are +admirable companions to the main occupants of the borders. The only +other plants admitted are white Dahlias, the two differently striped +varieties of _Eulalia japonica_, the fresh green foliage of Indian +Corn, and the brilliant light-green leafage of _Funkia grandiflora_. +Great attention is paid to staking the Asters. Nothing is more +deplorable than to see a neglected, overgrown plant, at the last moment, +when already half blown down, tied up in a tight bunch to one stake. +When we are cutting underwood in the copse in the winter, special +branching spray is looked out for our Michaelmas Daisies and cut about +four feet or five feet long, with one main stem and from two to five +branches. Towards the end of June and beginning of July these are thrust +firmly into the ground among the plants, and the young growths are tied +out so as to show to the best advantage. Good kinds of Michaelmas +Daisies are now so numerous that in selecting those for the special +garden it is well to avoid both the ones that bloom earliest and also +the very latest, so that for about three weeks the borders may show a +well-filled mass of bloom. + +[Illustration: BORDERS OF MICHAELMAS DAISIES.] + +The bracken in the copse stands dry and dead, but when leaves are +fluttering down and the chilly days of mid-October are upon us, its +warm, rusty colouring is certainly cheering; the green of the freshly +grown mossy carpet below looks vividly bright by contrast. Some bushes +of Spindle-tree (_Euonymus europaeus_) are loaded with their rosy +seed-pods; some are already burst, and show the orange-scarlet seeds--an +audacity of colouring that looks all the brighter for the even, +lustreless green of the leaves and of the green-barked twigs and stems. + +The hardy Azaleas are now blazing masses of crimson, almost scarlet +leaf; the old _A. pontica_, with its large foliage, is as bright as any. +With them are grouped some of the North American Vacciniums and +Andromedas, with leaves almost as bright. The ground between the groups +of shrubs is knee-deep in heath. The rusty-coloured withered bloom of +the wild heath on its purplish-grey masses and the surrounding banks of +dead fern make a groundwork and background of excellent colour-harmony. + +How seldom does one see Quinces planted for ornament, and yet there is +hardly any small tree that better deserves such treatment. Some Quinces +planted about eight years ago are now perfect pictures, their lissome +branches borne down with the load of great, deep-yellow fruit, and their +leaves turning to a colour almost as rich and glowing. The old English +rather round-fruited kind with the smooth skin is the best both for +flavour and beauty--a mature tree without leaves in winter has a +remarkably graceful, arching, almost weeping growth. The other kind is +of a rather more rigid form, and though its woolly-coated, pear-shaped +fruits are larger and strikingly handsome, the whole tree has a coarser +look, and just lacks the attractive grace of the other. They will do +fairly well almost anywhere, though they prefer a rich, loamy soil and a +cool, damp, or even swampy place. The Medlar is another of the small +fruiting trees that is more neglected than it should be, as it well +deserves a place among ornamental shrubs. Here it is a precious thing +in the region where garden melts into copse. The fruit-laden twigs are +just now very attractive, and its handsome leaves can never be passed +without admiration. Close to the Medlars is a happy intergrowth of the +wild Guelder-Rose, still bearing its brilliant clusters, a +strong-growing and far-clambering garden form of _Rosa arvensis_, full +of red hips, Sweetbriar, and Holly--a happy tangle of red-fruited +bushes, all looking as if they were trying to prove, in friendly +emulation, which can make the bravest show of red-berried wild-flung +wreath, or bending spray, or stately spire; while at their foot the +bright colour is repeated by the bending, berried heads of the wild +Iris, opening like fantastic dragons' mouths, and pouring out the red +bead-like seeds upon the ground; and, as if to make the picture still +more complete, the leaves of the wild Strawberry that cover the ground +with a close carpet have also turned to a crimson, and here and there to +an almost scarlet colour. + +During the year I make careful notes of any trees or shrubs that will be +wanted, either to come from the nursery or to be transplanted within my +own ground, so as to plant them as early as possible. Of the two +extremes it is better to plant too early than too late. I would rather +plant deciduous trees before the leaves are off than wait till after +Christmas, but of all planting times the best is from the middle of +October till the end of November, and the same time is the best for all +hardy plants of large or moderate size. + +I have no patience with slovenly planting. I like to have the ground +prepared some months in advance, and when the proper time comes, to do +the actual planting as well as possible. The hole in the already +prepared ground is taken out so that the tree shall stand exactly right +for depth, though in this dry soil it is well to make the hole an inch +or two deeper, in order to leave the tree standing in the centre of a +shallow depression, to allow of a good watering now and then during the +following summer. The hole must be made wide enough to give easy space +for the most outward-reaching of the roots; they must be spread out on +all sides, carefully combing them out with the fingers, so that they all +lay out to the best advantage. Any roots that have been bruised, or have +broken or jagged ends, are cut off with a sharp knife on the homeward +side of the injury. Most gardeners when they plant, after the first +spadeful or two has been thrown over the root, shake the bush with an up +and down joggling movement. This is useful in the case of plants with a +good lot of bushy root, such as Berberis, helping to get the grains of +earth well in among the root; but in tree planting, where the roots are +laid out flat, it is of course useless. In our light soil, the closer +and firmer the earth is made round the newly-planted tree the better, +and strong staking is most important, in order to save the newly-placed +root from disturbance by dragging. + +Some trees and shrubs one can only get from nurseries in pots. This is +usually the case with Ilex, Escallonia, and Cydonia. Such plants are +sure to have the roots badly matted and twisted. The main root curls +painfully round and round inside the imprisoning pot, but if it is a +clever root it works its way out through the hole in the bottom, and +even makes quite nice roots in the bed of ashes it has stood on. In this +case, as these are probably its best roots, we do not attempt to pull it +back through the hole, but break the pot to release it without hurt. If +it is possible to straighten the pot-curled root, it is best to do so; +in any case, the small fibrous ones can be laid out. Often the potful of +roots is so hard and tight that it cannot be disentangled by the hand; +then the only way is to soften it by gentle bumping on the bench, and +then to disengage the roots by little careful digs all round with a +blunt-pointed stick. If this is not done, and the plant is put in in its +pot-bound state, it never gets on; it would be just as well to throw it +away at once. + +Nine years ago a hedge of Lawson's Cypress was planted on one side of +the kitchen garden. Three years later, when the trees had made some +growth, I noticed in the case of three or four that they were quite bare +of branches on one side all the way up for a width of about one-sixth of +the circumference, leaving a smooth, straight, upright strip. Suspecting +the cause, I had them up, and found in every case that the root just +below the bare strip had been doubled under the stem, and had therefore +been unable to do its share of the work. Nothing could have pointed out +more clearly the defect in the planting. + +There are cases where ground cannot be prepared as one would wish, and +where one has to get over the difficulty the best way one can. Such a +case occurred when I had to plant some Yews and Savins right under a +large Birch-tree. The Birch is one of several large ones that nearly +surround the lawn. This one stands just within the end of a large +shrub-clump, near the place of meeting of some paths with the grass and +with some planting; here some further planting was wanted of dark-leaved +evergreens. There is no tree more ground-robbing than a Birch, and under +the tree in question the ground was dust-dry, extremely hard, and +nothing but the poorest sand. Looking at the foot of a large tree one +can always see which way the main roots go, and the only way to get down +any depth is to go between these and not many feet away from the trunk. +Farther away the roots spread out and would receive more injury. So the +ground was got up the best way we could, and the Yews and Savins +planted. Now, after some six years, they are healthy and dark-coloured, +and have made good growth. But in such a place one cannot expect the +original preparation of the ground, such as it was, to go for much. The +year after planting they had some strong, lasting manure just pricked in +over the roots--stuff from the shoeing-forge, full of hoof-parings. +Hoof-parings are rich in ammonia, and decay slowly. Every other year +they have either a repetition of this or some cooling cow manure. The +big Birch no doubt gets some of it, though its hungriest roots are +farther afield, but the rich colour of the shrubs shows that they are +well nourished. + +As soon as may be in November the big hardy flower-border has to be +thoroughly looked over. The first thing is to take away all "soft +stuff." This includes all dead annuals and biennials and any tender +things that have been put in for the summer, also Paris Daisies, +Zinnias, French and African Marigolds, Helichrysums, Mulleins, and a few +Geraniums. Then Dahlias are cut down. The waste stuff is laid in big +heaps on the edge of the lawn just across the footpath, to be loaded +into the donkey-cart and shot into some large holes that have been dug +up in the wood, whose story will be told later. + +The Dahlias are now dug up from the border, and others collected from +different parts of the garden. The labels are tied on to the short +stumps that remain, and the roots are laid for a time on the floor of a +shed. If the weather has been rainy just before taking them up, it is +well to lay them upside down, so that any wet there may be about the +bases of the large hollow stalks may drain out. They are left for +perhaps a fortnight without shaking out the earth that holds between the +tubers, so that they may be fairly dry before they are put away for the +winter in a cellar. + +Then we go back to the flower border and dig out all the plants that +have to be divided every year. It will also be the turn for some others +that only want division every two or three or more years, as the case +may be. First, out come all the perennial Sunflowers. These divide +themselves into two classes; those whose roots make close clumpy masses, +and those that throw out long stolons ending in a blunt snout, which is +the growing crown for next year. To the first division belong the old +double Sunflower (_Helianthus multiflorus_), of which I only keep the +well-shaped variety Soleil d'Or, and the much taller large-flowered +single kind, and a tall pale-yellow flowered one with a dark stem, whose +name I do not know. It is not one of the kinds thought much of, and as +usually grown has not much effect; but I plant it at the back and pull +it down over other plants that have gone out of flower, so that instead +of having only a few flowers at the top of a rather bare stem eight feet +high, it is a spreading cloud of pale yellow bloom; the training down, +as in the case of so many other plants, inducing it to throw up a short +flowering stalk from the axil of every leaf along the stem. The kinds +with the running roots are _Helianthus rigidus_, and its giant variety +Miss Mellish, _H. decapetalus_ and _H. laetiflorus_. I do not know how it +may be in other gardens, but in mine these must be replanted every year. + +Phloxes must also be taken up. They are always difficult here, unless +the season is unusually rainy; in dry summers, even with mulching and +watering, I cannot keep them from drying up. The outside pieces are cut +off and the woody middle thrown away. It is surprising what a tiny bit +of Phlox will make a strong flowering plant in one season. The kinds I +like best are the pure whites and the salmon-reds; but two others that I +find very pretty and useful are Eugenie, a good mauve, and Le Soleil, a +strong pink, of a colour as near a really good pink as in any Phlox I +know. Both of these have a neat and rather short habit of growth. I do +not have many Michaelmas Daisies in the flower border, only some early +ones that flower within September; of these there are the white-flowered +_A. paniculatus_, _Shortii_, _acris_, and _amellus_. These of course +come up, and any patches of Gladiolus are collected, to be dried for a +time and then stored. + +The next thing is to look through the border for the plants that require +occasional renewal. In the front I find that a longish patch of +_Heuchera Richardsoni_ has about half the plants overgrown. These must +come up, and are cut to pieces. It is not a nice plant to divide; it has +strong middle crowns, and though there are many side ones, they are +attached to the main ones too high up to have roots of their own; but I +boldly slice down the main stocky stem with straight downward cuts, so +as to give a piece of the thick stock to each side bit. I have done this +both in winter and spring, and find the spring rather the best, if not +followed by drought. Groups of _Anemone japonica_ and of _Polygonum +compactum_ are spreading beyond bounds and must be reduced. Neither of +these need be entirely taken up. Without going into further detail, it +may be of use to note how often I find it advisable to lift and divide +some of the more prominent hardy plants. + +Every year I divide Michaelmas Daisies, Goldenrod, _Helianthus_, +_Phlox_, _Chrysanthemum maximum_, _Helenium pumilum_, _Pyrethrum +uliginosum_, _Anthemis tinctoria_, _Monarda_, _Lychnis_, _Primula_, +except _P. denticulata_, _rosea_, and _auricula_, which stand two years. + +Every two years, White Pinks, Cranesbills, _Spiraea_, _Aconitum_, +_Gaillardia_, _Coreopsis_, _Chrysanthemum indicum_, _Galega_, +_Doronicum_, _Nepeta_, _Geum aureum_, _Oenothera Youngi_, and _Oe. +riparia_. + +Every three years, _Tritoma_, _Megasea_, _Centranthus_, _Vinca_, _Iris_, +_Narcissus_. + +A plasterer's hammer is a tool that is very handy for dividing plants. +It has a hammer on one side of the head, and a cutting blade like a +small chopper on the other. With this and a cold chisel and a strong +knife one can divide any roots in comfort. I never divide things by +brutally chopping them across with a spade. Plants that have soft fleshy +tubers like Dahlias and Paeonies want the cold chisel; it can be cleverly +inserted among the crowns so that injury to the tubers is avoided, and +it is equally useful in the case of some plants whose points of +attachment are almost as hard as wire, like _Orobus vernus_, or as +tough as a door-mat, like _Iris graminia_. The Michaelmas Daisies of +the _Novae Angliae_ section make root tufts too close and hard to be cut +with a knife, and here the chopper of the plasterer's hammer comes in. +Where the crowns are closely crowded, as in this Aster, I find it best +to chop at the bottom of the tuft, among the roots; when the chopper has +cut about two-thirds through, the tuft can be separated with the hands, +dividing naturally between the crowns, whereas if chopped from the top +many crowns would have been spoilt. + +Tritomas want dividing with care; it always looks as if one could pull +every crown apart, but there is a tender point at the "collar," where +they easily break off short; with these also it is best to chop from +below or to use the chisel, making the cut well down in the yellow rooty +region. Veratrums divide much in the same way, wanting a careful cut low +down, the points of their crowns being also very easy to break off. The +Christmas Rose is one of the most awkward plants to divide successfully. +It cannot be done in a hurry. The only safe way is to wash the clumps +well out and look carefully for the points of attachment, and cut them +either with knife or chisel, according to their position. In this case +the chisel should be narrower and sharper. Three-year-old tufts of St. +Bruno's Lily puzzled me at first. The rather fleshy roots are so tightly +interlaced that cutting is out of the question; but I found out that if +the tuft is held tight in the two hands, and the hands are worked +opposite ways with a rotary motion of about a quarter of a circle, that +they soon come apart without being hurt in the least. Delphiniums easily +break off at the crown if they are broken up by hand, but the roots cut +so easily that it ought not to be a difficulty. + +There are some plants in whose case one can never be sure whether they +will divide well or not, such as Oriental Poppies and _Eryngium +Oliverianum_. They behave in nearly the same way. Sometimes a Poppy or +an Eryngium comes up with one thick root, impossible to divide, while +the next door plant has a number of roots that are ready to drop apart +like a bunch of Salsafy. + +Everlasting Peas do nearly the same. One may dig up two plants--own +brothers of say seven years old--and a rare job it is, for they go +straight down into the earth nearly a yard deep. One of them will have a +straight black post of a root 2-1/2 inches thick without a break of any +sort till it forks a foot underground, while the other will be a sort of +loose rope of separate roots from half to three-quarters of an inch +thick, that if carefully followed down and cleverly dissected where they +join, will make strong plants at once. But the usual way to get young +plants of Everlasting Pea is to look out in earliest spring for the many +young growths that will be shooting, for these if taken off with a good +bit of the white underground stem will root under a hand-light. + +Most of the Primrose tribe divide pleasantly and easily: the worst are +the _auricula_ section; with these, for outdoor planting, one often has +to slice a main root down to give a share of root to the offset. + +When one is digging up plants with running roots, such as Gaultheria, +Honeysuckle, Polygonum, Scotch Briars, and many of the _Rubus_ tribe, or +what is better, if one person is digging while another pulls up, it +never does for the one who is pulling to give a steady haul; this is +sure to end in breakage, whereas a root comes up willingly and unharmed +in loosened ground to a succession of firm but gentle tugs, and one soon +learns to suit the weight of the pulls to the strength of the plant, and +to learn its breaking strain. + +Towards the end of October outdoor flowers in anything like quantity +cannot be expected, and yet there are patches of bloom here and there in +nearly every corner of the garden. The pretty Mediterranean Periwinkle +(_Vinca acutiflora_) is in full bloom. As with many another southern +plant that in its own home likes a cool and shady place, it prefers a +sunny one in our latitude. The flowers are of a pale and delicate +grey-blue colour, nearly as large as those of the common _Vinca major_, +but they are borne more generously as to numbers on radical shoots that +form thick, healthy-looking tufts of polished green foliage. It is not +very common in gardens, but distinctly desirable. + +In the bulb-beds the bright-yellow _Sternbergia lutea_ is in flower. At +first sight it looks something like a Crocus of unusually firm and +solid substance; but it is an Amaryllis, and its pure and even yellow +colouring is quite unlike that of any of the Crocuses. The numerous +upright leaves are thick, deep green, and glossy. It flowers rather +shyly in our poor soil, even in well-made beds, doing much better in +chalky ground. + +Czar Violets are giving their fine and fragrant flowers on stalks nine +inches long. To have them at their best they must be carefully +cultivated and liberally enriched. No plants answer better to good +treatment, or spoil more quickly by neglect. A miserable sight is a +forgotten violet-bed where they have run together into a tight mat, +giving only few and poor flowers. I have seen the owner of such a bed +stand over it and blame the plants, when he should have laid the lash on +his own shoulders. Violets must be replanted every year. When the last +rush of bloom in March is over, the plants are pulled to pieces, and +strong single crowns from the outer edges of the clumps, or from the +later runners, are replanted in good, well-manured soil, in such a place +as will be somewhat shaded from summer sun. There should be eighteen +inches between each plant, and as they make their growth, all runners +should be cut off until August. They are encouraged by liberal doses of +liquid manure from time to time, and watered in case of drought; and the +heart of the careful gardener is warmed and gratified when friends, +seeing them at midsummer, say (as has more than once happened), "What a +nice batch of young Hollyhocks!" + +In such a simple matter as the culture of this good hardy Violet, my +garden, though it is full of limitations, and in all ways falls short of +any worthy ideal, enables me here and there to point out something that +is worth doing, and to lay stress on the fact that the things worth +doing are worth taking trouble about. But it is a curious thing that +many people, even among those who profess to know something about +gardening, when I show them something fairly successful--the crowning +reward of much care and labour--refuse to believe that any pains have +been taken about it. They will ascribe it to chance, to the goodness of +my soil, and even more commonly to some supposed occult influence of my +own--to anything rather than to the plain fact that I love it well +enough to give it plenty of care and labour. They assume a tone of +complimentary banter, kindly meant no doubt, but to me rather +distasteful, to this effect: "Oh yes, of course it will grow for you; +anything will grow for you; you have only to look at a thing and it will +grow." I have to pump up a laboured smile and accept the remark with +what grace I can, as a necessary civility to the stranger that is within +my gates, but it seems to me evident that those who say these things do +not understand the love of a garden. + +I could not help rejoicing when such a visitor came to me one October. I +had been saying how necessary good and deep cultivation was, especially +in so very poor and shallow a soil as mine. Passing up through the copse +where there were some tall stems of _Lilium giganteum_ bearing the great +upturned pods of seed, my visitor stopped and said, "I don't believe a +word about your poor soil--look at the growth of that Lily. Nothing +could make that great stem ten feet high in a poor soil, and there it +is, just stuck into the wood!" I said nothing, knowing that presently I +could show a better answer than I could frame in words. A little farther +up in the copse we came upon an excavation about twelve feet across and +four deep, and by its side a formidable mound of sand, when my friend +said, "Why are you making all this mess in your pretty wood? are you +quarrying stone, or is it for the cellar of a building? and what on +earth are you going to do with that great heap of sand? why, there must +be a dozen loads of it." That was my moment of secret triumph, but I +hope I bore it meekly as I answered, "I only wanted to plant a few more +of those big Lilies, and you see in my soil they would not have a chance +unless the ground was thoroughly prepared; look at the edge of the scarp +and see how the solid yellow sand comes to within four inches of the +top; so I have a big wide hole dug; and look, there is the donkey-cart +coming with the first load of Dahlia-tops and soft plants that have been +for the summer in the south border. There will be several of those +little cartloads, each holding three barrowfuls. As it comes into the +hole, the men will chop it with the spade and tread it down close, +mixing in a little sand. This will make a nice cool, moist bottom of +slowly-rotting vegetable matter. Some more of the same kind of waste +will come from the kitchen garden--cabbage-stumps, bean-haulm, soft +weeds that have been hoed up, and all the greenest stuff from the +rubbish-heap. Every layer will be chopped and pounded, and tramped down +so that there should be as little sinking as possible afterwards. By +this time the hole will be filled to within a foot of the top; and now +we must get together some better stuff--road-scrapings and trimmings +mixed with some older rubbish-heap mould, and for the top of all, some +of our precious loam, and the soil of an old hotbed and some +well-decayed manure, all well mixed, and then we are ready for the +Lilies. They are planted only just underground, and then the whole bed +has a surfacing of dead leaves, which helps to keep down weeds, and also +looks right with the surrounding wild ground. The remains of the heap of +sand we must deal with how we can; but there are hollows here and there +in the roadway and paths, and a place that can be levelled up in the +rubbish-yard, and some kitchen-garden paths that will bear raising, and +so by degrees it is disposed of." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +NOVEMBER + +Giant Christmas Rose -- Hardy Chrysanthemums -- Sheltering tender shrubs +-- Turfing by inoculation -- Transplanting large trees -- Sir Henry +Steuart's experience early in the century -- Collecting fallen leaves -- +Preparing grubbing tools -- Butcher's Broom -- Alexandrian Laurel -- +Hollies and Birches -- A lesson in planting. + + +The giant Christmas Rose (_Helleborus maximus_) is in full flower; it is +earlier than the true Christmas Rose, being at its best by the middle of +November. It is a large and massive flower, but compared with the later +kinds has a rather coarse look. The bud and the back of the flower are +rather heavily tinged with a dull pink, and it never has the pure-white +colouring throughout of the later ones. + +I have taken some pains to get together some really hardy +November-blooming Chrysanthemums. The best of all is a kind frequent in +neighbouring cottage-gardens, and known hereabouts as Cottage Pink. I +believe it is identical with Emperor of China, a very old sort that used +to be frequent in greenhouse cultivation before it was supplanted by the +many good kinds now grown. But its place is not indoors, but in the +open garden; if against a south or west wall, so much the better. +Perhaps one year in seven the bloom may be spoilt by such a severe frost +as that of October 1895, but it will bear unharmed several degrees of +frost and much rain. I know no Chrysanthemum of so true a pink colour, +the colour deepening to almost crimson in the centre. After the first +frost the foliage of this kind turns to a splendid colour, the green of +the leaves giving place to a rich crimson that sometimes clouds the +outer portion of the leaf, and often covers its whole expanse. The +stiff, wholesome foliage adds much to the beauty of the outdoor kinds, +contrasting most agreeably with the limp, mildewed leafage of those +indoors. Following Cottage Pink is a fine pompone called Soleil d'Or, in +colour the richest deep orange, with a still deeper and richer coloured +centre. The beautiful crimson Julie Lagravere flowers at the same time. +Both are nearly frost-proof, and true hardy November flowers. + +The first really frosty day we go to the upper part of the wood and cut +out from among the many young Scotch Firs as many as we think will be +wanted for sheltering plants and shrubs of doubtful hardiness. One +section of the high wall at the back of the flower border is planted +with rather tender things, so that the whole is covered with sheltering +fir-boughs. Here are Loquat, Fuchsia, Pomegranate, _Edwardsia_, +_Piptanthus_, and _Choisya_, and in the narrow border at the foot of the +wall, _Crinum_, _Nandina_, _Clerodendron_, and _Hydrangea_. In the +broad border in front of the wall nothing needs protection except +Tritomas; these have cones of coal-ashes heaped over each plant or +clump. The Crinums also have a few inches of ashes over them. + +Some large Hydrangeas in tubs are moved to a sheltered place and put +close together, a mound of sand being shovelled up all round to nearly +the depth of the tubs; then a wall is made of thatched hurdles, and dry +fern is packed well in among the heads of the plants. They would be +better in a frost-proof shed, but we have no such place to spare. + +The making of a lawn is a difficulty in our very poor sandy soil. In +this rather thickly-populated country the lords of the manor had been so +much pestered for grants of road-side turf, and the privilege when +formerly given had been so much abused, that they have agreed together +to refuse all applications. Opportunities of buying good turf do not +often occur, and sowing is slow, and not satisfactory. I am told by a +seedsman of the highest character that it is almost impossible to get +grass seed clean and true to name from the ordinary sources; the leading +men therefore have to grow their own. + +In my own case, having some acres of rough heath and copse where the +wild grasses are of fine-leaved kinds, I made the lawn by inoculation. +The ground was trenched and levelled, then well trodden and raked, and +the surface stones collected. Tufts of the wild grass were then forked +up, and were pulled into pieces about the size of the palm of one's +hand, and laid down eight inches apart, and well rolled in. During the +following summer we collected seed of the same grasses to sow early in +spring in any patchy or bare places. One year after planting the patches +had spread to double their size, and by the second year had nearly +joined together. The grasses were of two kinds only, namely, Sheep's +Fescue (_Festuca ovina_) and Crested Dog's-tail (_Agrostis canina_). +They make a lawn of a quiet, low-toned colour, never of the bright green +of the rather coarser grasses; but in this case I much prefer it; it +goes better with the Heath and Fir and Bracken that belong to the place. +In point of labour, a lawn made of these fine grasses has the great +merit of only wanting mowing once in three weeks. + + * * * * * + +I have never undertaken the transplanting of large trees, but there is +no doubt that it may be done with success, and in laying out a new place +where the site is bare, if suitable trees are to be had, it is a plan +much to be recommended. It has often been done of late years, but until +a friend drew my attention to an article in the _Quarterly Review_, +dated March 1828, I had no idea that it had been practised on a large +scale so early in the century. The article in question was a review of +"The Planter's Guide," by Sir Henry Steuart, Bart., LL.D. (Edinburgh, +1828.) It quoted the opinion and observation of a committee of +gentlemen, among whom was Sir Walter Scott, who visited Allanton (Sir +Henry Steuart's place) in September 1828, when the trees had been some +years planted. They found them growing "with vigour and luxuriance, and +in the most exposed situations making shoots of eighteen inches.... From +the facts which they witnessed the committee reported it as their +unanimous opinion that the art of transplantation, as practised by Sir +Henry Steuart, is calculated to accelerate in an extraordinary degree +the power of raising wood, whether for beauty or shelter." + +The reviewer then quotes the method of transplantation, describing the +extreme care with which the roots are preserved, men with picks +carefully trying round the ground beneath the outer circumference of the +branches for the most outlying rootlets, and then gradually approaching +the bole. The greatest care was taken not to injure any root or fibre, +these as they were released from the earth being tied up, and finally +the transplanting machine, consisting of a strong pole mounted on high +wheels, was brought close to the trunk and attached to it, and the tree +when lowered, carefully transported to its new home. Every layer of +roots was then replanted with the utmost care, with delicate fingering +and just sufficient ramming, and in the end the tree stood without any +artificial support whatever, and in positions exposed to the fiercest +gales. + +The average size of tree dealt with seems to have had a trunk about a +foot in diameter, but some were removed with complete success whose +trunks were two feet thick. In order that his trees might be the better +balanced in shape, Sir Henry boldly departed from the older custom of +replanting a tree in its original aspect, for he reversed the aspect, so +that the more stunted and shorter-twigged weather side now became the +lee side, and could grow more freely. + +He insists strongly on the wisdom of transplanting only well-weathered +trees, and not those of tender constitution that had been sheltered by +standing among other close growths, pointing out that these have a +tenderer bark and taller top and roots less well able to bear the strain +of wind and weather in the open. + +He reckons that a transplanted tree is in full new growth by the fourth +or fifth year, and that an advantage equal to from thirty to forty +years' growth is gained by the system. As for the expense of the work, +Sir Henry estimated that his largest trees each cost from ten to +thirteen shillings to take up, remove half a mile, and replant. In the +case of large trees the ground that was to receive them was prepared a +twelvemonth beforehand. + + * * * * * + +Now, in the third week of November, the most pressing work is the +collecting of leaves for mulching and leaf-mould. The oaks have been +late in shedding their leaves, and we have been waiting till they are +down. Oak-leaves are the best, then hazel, elm, and Spanish chestnut. +Birch and beech are not so good; beech-leaves especially take much too +long to decay. This is, no doubt, the reason why nothing grows willingly +under beeches. Horse and cart and three hands go out into the lanes for +two or three days, and the loads that come home go three feet deep into +the bottom of a range of pits. The leaves are trodden down close and +covered with a layer of mould, in which winter salad stuff is +immediately planted. The mass of leaves will soon begin to heat, and +will give a pleasant bottom-heat throughout the winter. Other loads of +leaves go into an open pen about ten feet square and five feet deep. Two +such pens, made of stout oak post and rail and upright slabs, stand side +by side in the garden yard. The one newly filled has just been emptied +of its two-year-old leaf-mould, which has gone as a nourishing and +protecting mulch over beds of Daffodils and choice bulbs and +Alstroemerias, some being put aside in reserve for potting and various +uses. The other pen remains full of the leaves of last year, slowly +rotting into wholesome plant-food. + +With works of wood-cutting and stump-grubbing near at hand, we look over +the tools and see that all are in readiness for winter work. Axes and +hand-bills are ground, fag-hooks sharpened, picks and mattocks sent to +the smithy to be drawn out, the big cross-cut saw fresh sharpened and +set, and the hand-saws and frame-saws got ready. The rings of the bittle +are tightened and wedged up, so that its heavy head may not split when +the mighty blows, flung into the tool with a man's full strength, +fall on the heads of the great iron wedges. + +[Illustration: PENS FOR STORING DEAD LEAVES.] + +[Illustration: CAREFUL WILD-GARDENING--WHITE FOXGLOVES AT THE EDGE OF +THE FIR WOOD. (_See page 270._)] + +Some thinning of birch-trees has to be done in the lowest part of the +copse, not far from the house. They are rather evenly distributed on the +ground, and I wish to get them into groups by cutting away superfluous +trees. On the neighbouring moorland and heathy uplands they are apt to +grow naturally in groups, the individual trees generally bending outward +towards the free, open space, the whole group taking a form that is +graceful and highly pictorial. I hope to be able to cut out trees so as +to leave the remainder standing in some such way. But as a tree once cut +cannot be put up again, the condemned ones are marked with bands of +white paper right round the trunks, so that they can be observed from +all sides, thus to give a chance of reprieve to any tree that from any +point of view may have pictorial value. + +Frequent in some woody districts in the south of England, though local, +is the Butcher's Broom (_Ruscus aculeatus_). Its stiff green branches +that rise straight from the root bear small, hard leaves, armed with a +sharp spine at the end. The flower, which comes in early summer, is +seated without stalk in the middle of the leaf, and is followed by a +large red berry. In country places where it abounds, butchers use the +twigs tied in bunches to brush the little chips of meat off their great +chopping-blocks, that are made of solid sections of elm trees, standing +three and a half feet high and about two and a half feet across. Its +beautiful garden relative, the Alexandrian or Victory Laurel (_Ruscus +racemosus_), is also now just at its best. Nothing makes a more +beautiful wreath than two of its branches, suitably arched and simply +bound together near the butts and free ends. It is not a laurel, but a +_Ruscus_, the name laurel having probably grown on to it by old +association with any evergreen suitable for a victor's wreath. It is a +slow-growing plant, but in time makes handsome tufts of its graceful +branches. Few plants are more exquisitely modelled, to use a term +familiar to the world of fine art, or give an effect of more delicate +and perfect finish. It is a valuable plant in a shady place in good, +cool soil. Early in summer, when the young growths appear, the old, then +turning rusty, should be cut away. + +No trees group together more beautifully than Hollies and Birches. One +such happy mixture in one part of the copse suggested further plantings +of Holly, Birches being already in abundance. Every year some more +Hollies are planted; those put in nine years ago are now fifteen feet +high, and are increasing fast. They are slow to begin growth after +transplanting, perhaps because in our very light soil they cannot be +moved with a "ball"; all the soil shakes away, and leaves the root +naked; but after about three years, when the roots have got good hold +and begun to ramble, they grow away well. The trunk of an old Holly has +a smooth pale-grey bark, and sometimes a slight twist, that makes it +look like the gigantic bone of some old-world monster. The leaves of +some old trees, especially if growing in shade, change their shape, +losing the side prickles and becoming longer and nearly flat and more of +a dark bottle-green colour, while the lower branches and twigs, leafless +except towards their ends, droop down in a graceful line that rises +again a little at the tip. + +[Illustration: HOLLY STEMS IN AN OLD HEDGE-ROW.] + +The leaves are all down by the last week of November, and woodland +assumes its winter aspect; perhaps one ought rather to say, some one of +its infinite variety of aspects, for those who live in such country know +how many are the winter moods of forest land, and how endless are its +variations of atmospheric effect and pictorial beauty--variations much +greater and more numerous than are possible in summer. + +With the wind in the south-west and soft rain about, the twigs of the +birches look almost crimson, while the dead bracken at their foot, +half-draggled and sodden with wet, is of a strong, dark rust colour. Now +one sees the full value of the good evergreens, and, rambling through +woodland, more especially of the Holly, whether in bush or tree form, +with its masses of strong green colour, dark and yet never gloomy. +Whether it is the high polish of the leaves, or the lively look of their +wavy edges, with the short prickles set alternately up and down, or the +brave way the tree has of shooting up among other thick growth, or its +massive sturdiness on a bare hillside, one cannot say, but a Holly in +early winter, even without berries, is always a cheering sight. John +Evelyn is eloquent in his praise of this grand evergreen, and lays +special emphasis on this quality of cheerfulness. + +Near my home is a little wild valley, whose planting, wholly done by +Nature, I have all my life regarded with the most reverent admiration. + +The arable fields of an upland farm give place to hazel copses as the +ground rises. Through one of these a deep narrow lane, cool and dusky in +summer from its high steep banks and over-arching foliage, leads by a +rather sudden turn into the lower end of the little valley. Its grassy +bottom is only a few yards wide, and its sides rise steeply right and +left. Looking upward through groups of wild bushes and small trees, one +sees thickly-wooded ground on the higher levels. The soil is of the very +poorest; ridges of pure yellow sand are at the mouths of the many +rabbit-burrows. The grass is of the short fine kinds of the heathy +uplands. Bracken grows low, only from one to two feet high, giving +evidence of the poverty of the soil, and yet it seems able to grow in +perfect beauty clumps of Juniper and Thorn and Holly, and Scotch Fir on +the higher ground. + +On the steeply-rising banks are large groups of Juniper, some tall, some +spreading, some laced and wreathed about with tangles of Honeysuckle, +now in brown winter dress, and there are a few bushes of +Spindle-tree, whose green stems and twigs look strangely green in +winter. The Thorns stand some singly, some in close companionship, +impenetrable masses of short-twigged prickly growth, with here and there +a wild Rose shooting straight up through the crowded branches. One +thinks how lovely it will be in early June, when the pink Rose-wreaths +are tossing out of the foamy sea of white Thorn blossom. The Hollies are +towering masses of health and vigour. Some of the groups of Thorn and +Holly are intermingled; all show beautiful arrangements of form and +colour, such as are never seen in planted places. The track in the +narrow valley trends steadily upwards and bears a little to the right. +High up on the left-hand side is an old wood of Scotch Fir. A few +detached trees come half-way down the valley bank to meet the gnarled, +moss-grown Thorns and the silver-green Junipers. As the way rises some +Birches come in sight, also at home in the sandy soil. Their graceful, +lissome spray moving to the wind looks active among the stiffer trees, +and their white stems shine out in startling contrast to the other dusky +foliage. So the narrow track leads on, showing the same kinds of tree +and bush in endless variety of beautiful grouping, under the sombre +half-light of the winter day. It is afternoon, and as one mounts higher +a pale bar of yellow light gleams between the farther tree-stems, but +all above is grey, with angry, blackish drifts of ragged wrack. Now the +valley opens out to a nearly level space of rough grass, with grey +tufts that will be pink bell-heather in summer, and upstanding clumps of +sedge that tell of boggy places. In front and to the right are dense +fir-woods. To the left is broken ground and a steep-sided hill, towards +whose shoulder the track rises. Here are still the same kinds of trees, +but on the open hillside they have quite a different effect. Now I look +into the ruddy heads of the Thorns, bark and fruit both of rich warm +colouring, and into the upper masses of the Hollies, also reddening into +wealth of berry. + +[Illustration: WILD JUNIPERS.] + +Throughout the walk, pacing slowly but steadily for nearly an hour, only +these few kinds of trees have been seen, Juniper, Holly, Thorn, Scotch +Fir, and Birch (a few small Oaks excepted), and yet there has not been +once the least feeling of monotony, nor, returning downward by the same +path, could one wish anything to be altered or suppressed or differently +grouped. And I have always had the same feeling about any quite wild +stretch of forest land. Such a bit of wild forest as this small valley +and the hilly land beyond are precious lessons in the best kind of tree +and shrub planting. No artificial planting can ever equal that of +Nature, but one may learn from it the great lesson of the importance of +moderation and reserve, of simplicity of intention, and directness of +purpose, and the inestimable value of the quality called "breadth" in +painting. For planting ground is painting a landscape with living +things; and as I hold that good gardening takes rank within the +bounds of the fine arts, so I hold that to plant well needs an artist of +no mean capacity. And his difficulties are not slight ones, for his +living picture must be right from all points, and in all lights. + +[Illustration: WILD JUNIPERS.] + +No doubt the planting of a large space with a limited number of kinds of +trees cannot be trusted to all hands, for in those of a person without +taste or the more finely-trained perceptions the result would be very +likely dull or even absurd. It is not the paint that make the picture, +but the brain and heart and hand of the man who uses it. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +DECEMBER + +The woodman at work -- Tree-cutting in frosty weather -- Preparing +sticks and stakes -- Winter Jasmine -- Ferns in the wood-walk -- Winter +colour of evergreen shrubs -- Copse-cutting -- Hoop-making -- Tools used +-- Sizes of hoops -- Men camping out -- Thatching with hoop-chips -- The +old thatcher's bill. + + +It is good to watch a clever woodman and see how much he can do with his +simple tools, and how easily one man alone can deal with heavy pieces of +timber. An oak trunk, two feet or more thick, and weighing perhaps a +ton, lies on the ground, the branches being already cut off. He has to +cleave it into four, and to remove it to the side of a lane one hundred +feet away. His tools are an axe and one iron wedge. The first step is +the most difficult--to cut such a nick in the sawn surface of the butt +of the trunk as will enable the wedge to stick in. He holds the wedge to +the cut and hammers it gently with the back of the axe till it just +holds, then he tries a moderate blow, and is quite prepared for what is +almost sure to happen--the wedge springs out backwards; very likely it +springs out for three or four trials, but at last the wedge bites and he +can give it the dexterous, rightly-placed blows that slowly drive it +in. Before the wedge is in half its length a creaking sound is heard; +the fibres are beginning to tear, and a narrow rift shows on each side +of the iron. A few more strokes and the sound of the rending fibres is +louder and more continuous, with sudden cracking noises, that tell of +the parting of larger bundles of fibres, that had held together till the +tremendous rending power of the wedge at last burst them asunder. Now +the man looks out a bit of strong branch about four inches thick, and +with the tree-trunk as a block and the axe held short in one hand as a +chopper, he makes a wooden wedge about twice the size of the iron one, +and drives it into one of the openings at its side. For if you have only +one iron wedge, and you drive it tight into your work, you can neither +send it farther nor get it out, and you feel and look foolish. The +wooden wedge driven in releases the iron one, which is sent in afresh +against the side of the wedge of oak, the trunk meanwhile rending slowly +apart with much grieving and complaining of the tearing fibres. As the +rent opens the axe cuts across diagonal bundles of fibres that still +hold tightly across the widening rift. And so the work goes on, the man +unconsciously exercising his knowledge of his craft in placing and +driving the wedges, the helpless wood groaning and creaking and finally +falling apart as the last holding fibres are severed by the axe. +Meanwhile the raw green wood gives off a delicious scent, sweet and +sharp and refreshing, not unlike the smell of apples crushing in the +cider-press. + +[Illustration: THE WOODMAN.] + +The woodman has still to rend the two halves of the trunk, but the work +is not so heavy and goes more quickly. Now he has to shift them to the +side of the rough track that serves as a road through the wood. They are +so heavy that two men could barely lift them, and he is alone. He could +move them with a lever, that he could cut out of a straight young tree, +a foot or so at a time at each end, but it is a slow and clumsy way; +besides, the wood is too much encumbered with undergrowth. So he cuts +two short pieces from a straight bit of branch four inches or five +inches thick, levers one of his heavy pieces so that one end points to +the roadway, prises up this end and kicks one of his short pieces under +it close to the end, settling it at right angles with gentle kicks. The +other short piece is arranged in the same way, a little way beyond the +middle of the length of quartered trunk. Now, standing behind it, he can +run the length easily along on the two rollers, till the one nearest him +is left behind; this one is then put under the front end of the weight, +and so on till the road is reached. + +Trees that stand where paths are to come, or that for any reason have to +be removed, root and all, are not felled with axe or saw, but are +grubbed down. The earth is dug away next to the tree, gradually exposing +the roots; these are cut through with axe or mattock close to the +butt, and again about eighteen inches away, so that by degrees a deep +trench, eighteen inches wide, is excavated round the butt. A rope is +fastened at the right distance up the trunk, when, if the tree does not +hold by a very strong tap-root, a succession of steady pulls will bring +it down; the weight of the top thus helping to prise the heavy butt out +of the ground. We come upon many old stumps of Scotch fir, the remains +of the original wood; they make capital firewood, though some burn +rather too fiercely, being full of turpentine. Many are still quite +sound, though it must be six-and-twenty years since they were felled. +They are very hard to grub, with their thick taproots and far-reaching +laterals, and still tougher to split up, their fibres are so much +twisted, and the dark-red heart-wood has become hardened till it rings +to a blow almost like metal. But some, whose roots have rotted, come up +more easily, and with very little digging may be levered out of the +ground with a long iron stone-bar, such as they use in the neighbouring +quarries, putting the point of the bar under the "stam," and having a +log of wood for a hard fulcrum. Or a stout young stem of oak or chestnut +is used for a lever, passing a chain under the stump and over the middle +of the bar and prising upwards with the lever. "Stam" is the word always +used by the men for any stump of a tree left in the ground. + +[Illustration: GRUBBING A TREE-STUMP.] + +[Illustration: FELLING AND GRUBBING TOOLS. (_See page 150._)] + +A spell of frosty days at the end of December puts a stop to all +planting and ground work. Now we go into the copse and cut the trees +that have been provisionally marked, judged, and condemned, with the +object of leaving the remainder standing in graceful groups. The men +wonder why I cut some of the trees that are best and straightest and +have good tops, and leave those with leaning stems. Anything of seven +inches or less diameter is felled with the axe, but thicker trees with +the cross-cut saw. For these our most active fellow climbs up the tree +with a rope, and makes it fast to the trunk a good way up, then two of +them, kneeling, work the saw. When it has cut a third of the way +through, the rope is pulled on the side opposite the cut to keep it open +and let the saw work free. When still larger trees are sawn down this is +done by driving in a wedge behind the saw, when the width of the +saw-blade is rather more than buried in the tree. When the trunk is +nearly sawn through, it wants care and judgment to see that the saw does +not get pinched by the weight of the tree; the clumsy workman who fails +to clear his saw gets laughed at, and probably damages his tool. Good +straight trunks of oak and chestnut are put aside for special uses; the +rest of the larger stuff is cut into cordwood lengths of four feet. The +heaviest of these are split up into four pieces to make them easier to +load and carry away, and eventually to saw up into firewood. + +The best of the birch tops are cut into pea-sticks, a clever, slanting +cut with the hand-bill leaving them pointed and ready for use. +Throughout the copse are "stools" of Spanish chestnut, cut about once in +five years. From this we get good straight stakes for Dahlias and +Hollyhocks, also beanpoles; while the rather straight-branched boughs +are cut into branching sticks for Michaelmas Daisies, and special +lengths are got ready for various kinds of plants--Chrysanthemums, +Lilies, Paeonies and so on. To provide all this in winter, when other +work is slack or impossible, is an important matter in the economy of a +garden, for all gardeners know how distressing and harassing it is to +find themselves without the right sort of sticks or stakes in summer, +and what a long job it then seems to have to look them up and cut them, +of indifferent quality, out of dry faggots. By the plan of preparing all +in winter no precious time is lost, and a tidy withe-bound bundle of the +right sort is always at hand. The rest of the rough spray and small +branching stuff is made up into faggots to be chopped up for +fire-lighting; the country folk still use the old word "bavin" for +faggots. The middle-sized branches--anything between two inches and six +inches in diameter--are what the woodmen call "top and lop"; these are +also cut into convenient lengths, and are stacked in the barn, to be cut +into billets for next year's fires in any wet or frosty weather, when +outdoor work is at a standstill. + +What a precious winter flower is the yellow Jasmine (_Jasminum +nudiflorum_). Though hard frost spoils the flowers then expanded, as +soon as milder days come the hosts of buds that are awaiting them burst +into bloom. Its growth is so free and rapid that one has no scruple +about cutting it freely; and great branching sprays, cut a yard or more +long, arranged with branches of Alexandrian Laurel or other suitable +foliage--such as Andromeda or Gaultheria--are beautiful as room +decoration. + +Christmas Roses keep on flowering bravely, in spite of our light soil +and frequent summer drought, both being unfavourable conditions; but +bravest of all is the blue Algerian Iris (_Iris stylosa_), flowering +freely as it does, at the foot of a west wall, in all open weather from +November till April. + +In the rock-garden at the edge of the copse the creeping evergreen +_Polygala chamaebuxus_ is quite at home in beds of peat among mossy +boulders. Where it has the ground to itself, this neat little shrub +makes close tufts only four inches or five inches high, its wiry +branches being closely set with neat, dark-green, box-like leaves; +though where it has to struggle for life among other low shrubs, as may +often be seen in the Alps, the branches elongate, and will run bare for +two feet or three feet to get the leafy end to the light. Even now it is +thickly set with buds and has a few expanded flowers. This bit of +rock-garden is mostly planted with dwarf shrubs--_Skimmia_, Bog-myrtle, +Alpine Rhododendrons, _Gaultheria_, and _Andromeda_, with drifts of +hardy ferns between, and only a few "soft" plants. But of these, two are +now conspicuously noticeable for foliage--the hardy Cyclamens and the +blue Himalayan Poppy (_Meconopsis Wallichi_). Every winter I notice how +bravely the pale woolly foliage of this plant bears up against the early +winter's frost and wet. + +The wood-walk, whose sloping banks are planted with hardy ferns in large +groups, shows how many of our common kinds are good plants for the first +half of the winter. Now, only a week before Christmas, the male fern is +still in handsome green masses; _Blechnum_ is still good, and common +Polypody at its best. The noble fronds of the Dilated Shield-fern are +still in fairly good order, and _Ceterach_ in rocky chinks is in fullest +beauty. Beyond, in large groups, are prosperous-looking tufts of the +Wood-rush (_Luzula sylvatica_); then there is wood as far as one can +see, here mostly of the silver-stemmed Birch and rich green Holly, with +the woodland carpet of dusky low-toned bramble and quiet dead leaf and +brilliant moss. + +By the middle of December many of the evergreen shrubs that thrive in +peat are in full beauty of foliage. _Andromeda Catesbaei_ is richly +coloured with crimson clouds and splashes; Skimmias are at their best +and freshest, their bright, light green, leathery foliage defying all +rigours of temperature or weather. Pernettyas are clad in their +strongest and deepest green leafage, and show a richness and depth of +colour only surpassed by that of the yew hedges. + +Copse-cutting is one of the harvests of the year for labouring men, and +all the more profitable that it can go on through frosty weather. A +handy man can earn good wages at piece-work, and better still if he can +cleave and shave hoops. Hoop-making is quite a large industry in these +parts, employing many men from Michaelmas to March. They are +barrel-hoops, made of straight poles of six years' growth. The wood used +is Birch, Ash, Hazel and Spanish Chestnut. Hazel is the best, or as my +friend in the business says, "Hazel, that's the master!" The growths of +the copses are sold by auction in some near county town, as they stand, +the buyer clearing them during the winter. They are cut every six years, +and a good copse of Chestnut has been known to fetch L54 an acre. + +A good hoop-maker can earn from twenty to twenty-five shillings a week. +He sets up his brake, while his mate, who will cleave the rods, cuts a +post about three inches thick, and fixes it into the ground so that it +stands about three feet high. To steady it he drives in another of +rather curly shape by its side, so that the tops of the two are nearly +even, but the foot of the curved spur is some nine inches away at the +bottom, with its top pressing hard against the upright. To stiffen it +still more he makes a long withe of a straight hazel rod, which he +twists into a rope by holding the butt tightly under his left foot +and twisting with both hands till the fibres are wrenched open and +the withe is ready to spring back and wind upon itself. With this he +binds his two posts together, so that they stand perfectly rigid. On +this he cleaves the poles, beginning at the top. The tool is a small +one-handed adze with a handle like a hammer. A rod is usually cleft in +two, so that it is only shaved on one side; but sometimes a pole of +Chestnut, a very quick-growing wood, is large enough to cleave into +eight, and when the wood is very clean and straight they can sometimes +get two lengths of fourteen feet out of a pole. + +[Illustration: HOOP-MAKING IN THE WOODS.] + +The brake is a strong flat-shaped post of oak set up in the ground to +lean a little away from the workman. It stands five and a half feet out +of the ground. A few inches from its upper end it has a shoulder cut in +it which acts as the fulcrum for the cross-bar that supports the pole to +be shaved, and that leans down towards the man. The relative position of +the two parts of the brake reminds one of the mast and yard of a +lateen-rigged boat. The bar is nicely balanced by having a hazel withe +bound round a groove at its upper short end, about a foot beyond the +fulcrum, while the other end of the withe is tied round a heavy bit of +log or stump that hangs clear of the ground and just balances the bar, +so that it see-saws easily. The cleft rod that is to be shaved lies +along the bar, and an iron pin that passes through the head of the brake +just above the point where the bar rides over its shoulder, nips the +hoop as the weight of the stroke comes upon it; the least lifting of the +bar releases the hoop, which is quickly shifted onwards for a new +stroke. The shaving tool is a strong two-handled draw-knife, much like +the tool used by wheelwrights. It is hard work, "wunnerful tryin' across +the chest." + +The hoops are in several standard lengths, from fourteen to two and a +half feet. The longest go to the West Indies for sugar hogsheads, and +some of the next are for tacking round pipes of wine. The wine is in +well-made iron-hooped barrels, but the wooden hoops are added to protect +them from the jarring and bumping when rolled on board ship, and +generally to save them during storage and transit. These hoops are in +two sizes, called large and small pipes. A thirteen-foot size go to +foreign countries for training vines on. A large quantity that measure +five feet six inches, and called "long pinks," are for cement barrels. A +length of seven feet six inches are used for herring barrels, and are +called kilderkins, after the name of the size of tub. Smaller sizes go +for gunpowder barrels, and for tacking round packing-cases and +tea-chests. + +The men want to make all the time they can in the short winter daylight, +and often the work is some miles from home, so if the weather is not +very cold they make huts of the bundles of rods and chips, and sleep out +on the job. I always admire the neatness with which the bundles are +fastened up, and the strength of the withe-rope that binds them, for +sixty hoops, or thirty pairs, as they call them, of fourteen feet, +are a great weight to be kept together by four slight hazel bands. + +[Illustration: HOOP-SHAVING.] + +[Illustration: SHED-ROOF, THATCHED WITH HOOP-CHIP.] + +In this industry there is a useful by-product in the shavings, or chips +as they call them. They are eighteen inches to two feet long, and are +made up into small faggots or bundles and stacked up for six months to a +year to dry, and then sell readily at twopence a bundle to cut up for +fire-lighting. They also make a capital thatch for sheds, a thatch +nearly a foot thick, warm in winter, and cool in summer, and durable, +for if well made it will last for forty years. I got a clever old +thatcher to make me a hoop-chip roof for the garden shed; it was a long +job, and he took his time (although it was piece-work), preparing and +placing each handful of chips as carefully as if he was making a wedding +bouquet. He was one of the old sort--no scamping of work for him; his +work was as good as he could make it, and it was his pride and delight. +The roof was prepared with strong laths nailed horizontally across the +rafters as if for tiling, but farther apart; and the chips, after a +number of handfuls had been duly placed and carefully poked and patted +into shape, were bound down to the laths with soft tarred cord guided by +an immense iron needle. The thatching, as in all cases of roof-covering, +begins at the eaves, so that each following layer laps over the last. +Only the ridge has to be of straw, because straw can be bent over; the +chips are too rigid. When the thatch is all in place the whole is +"drove," that is, beaten up close with a wooden bat that strikes against +the ends of the chips and drives them up close, jamming them tight into +the fastening. After six months of drying summer weather he came and +drove it all over again. + +Thatching is done by piece-work, and paid at so much a "square" of ten +by ten feet. When I asked for his bill, the old man brought it made out +on a hazel stick, in a manner either traditional, or of his own +devising. This is how it runs, in notches about half an inch long, and +dots dug with the point of the knife. It means, "To so much work done, +L4, 5s. 0d." + + IIXXX.I., IIXXXX.II[V] IIII[V]XX,IIXX + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +LARGE AND SMALL GARDENS + +A well done villa garden -- A small town garden -- Two delightful +gardens of small size -- Twenty acres within the walls -- A large +country house and its garden -- Terrace -- Lawn -- Parterre -- Free +garden -- Kitchen garden -- Buildings -- Ornamental orchard -- +Instructive mixed gardens -- Mr. Wilson's at Wisley -- A window garden. + + +The size of a garden has very little to do with its merit. It is merely +an accident relating to the circumstances of the owner. It is the size +of his heart and brain and goodwill that will make his garden either +delightful or dull, as the case may be, and either leave it at the usual +monotonous dead-level, or raise it, in whatever degree may be, towards +that of a work of fine art. If a man knows much, it is more difficult +for him to deal with a small space than a larger, for he will have to +make the more sacrifice; but if he is wise he will at once make up his +mind about what he will let go, and how he may best treat the restricted +space. Some years ago I visited a small garden attached to a villa on +the outskirts of a watering-place on the south coast. In ordinary hands +it would have been a perfectly commonplace thing, with the usual weary +mixture, and exhibiting the usual distressing symptoms that come in the +train of the ministrations of the jobbing-gardener. In size it may have +been a third of an acre, and it was one of the most interesting and +enjoyable gardens I have ever seen, its master and mistress giving it +daily care and devotion, and enjoying to the full its glad response of +grateful growth. The master had built with his own hands, on one side +where more privacy was wanted, high rugged walls, with spaces for many +rock-loving plants, and had made the wall die away so cleverly into the +rock-garden, that the whole thing looked like a garden founded on some +ancient ruined structure. And it was all done with so much taste that +there was nothing jarring or strained-looking, still less anything +cockneyfied, but all easy and pleasant and pretty, while the happy look +of the plants at once proclaimed his sympathy with them, and his +comprehensive knowledge of their wants. In the same garden was a walled +enclosure where Tree Paeonies and some of the hardier of the oriental +Rhododendrons were thriving, and there were pretty spaces of lawn, and +flower border, and shrub clump, alike beautiful and enjoyable, all +within a small space, and yet not crowded--the garden of one who was a +keen flower lover, as well as a world-known botanist. + +I am always thankful to have seen this garden, because it showed me, in +a way that had never been so clearly brought home to me, how much may be +done in a small space. + +Another and much smaller garden that I remember with pleasure was in a +sort of yard among houses, in a country town. The house it belonged to, +a rather high one, was on its east side, and halfway along on the south; +the rest was bounded by a wall about ten feet high. Opposite the house +the owner had built of rough blocks of sandstone what served as a +workshop, about twelve feet long along the wall, and six feet wide +within. A low archway of the same rough stone was the entrance, and +immediately above it a lean-to roof sloped up to the top of the wall, +which just here had been carried a little higher. The roof was of large +flat sandstones, only slightly lapping over each other, with spaces and +chinks where grew luxuriant masses of Polypody Fern. It was contrived +with a cement bed, so that it was quite weather-tight, and the room was +lighted by a skylight at one end that did not show from the garden. A +small surface of lead-flat, on a level with the top of the wall, in one +of the opposite angles, carried an old oil-jar, from which fell masses +of gorgeous Tropaeolum, and the actual surface of the flat was a garden +of Stonecrops. The rounded coping of the walls, and the joints in many +places (for the wall was an old one), were gay with yellow Corydalis and +Snapdragons and more Stonecrops. The little garden had a few pleasant +flowering bushes, Ribes and Laurustinus, a Bay and an Almond tree. In +the coolest and shadiest corner were a fern-grotto and a tiny tank. The +rest of the garden, only a few yards across, was laid out with a square +bed in the middle, and a little path round, then a three-feet-wide +border next the wall, all edged with rather tall-grown Box. The middle +bed had garden Roses and Carnations, and Mignonette and Stocks. All +round were well-chosen plants and shrubs, looking well and happy, though +in a confined and rather airless space. Every square foot had been made +the most of with the utmost ingenuity, but the ingenuity was always +directed by good taste, so that nothing looked crowded or out of place. + +And I think of two other gardens of restricted space, both long strips +of ground walled at the sides, whose owners I am thankful to count among +my friends--one in the favoured climate of the Isle of Wight, a little +garden where I suppose there are more rare and beautiful plants brought +together within a small space than perhaps in any other garden of the +same size in England; the other in a cathedral town, now a memory only, +for the master of what was one of the most beautiful gardens I have ever +seen now lives elsewhere. The garden was long in shape, and divided +about midway by a wall. The division next the house was a quiet lawn, +with a mulberry tree and a few mounded borders near the sides that were +unobstrusive, and in no way spoilt the quiet feeling of the lawn space. +Then a doorway in the dividing wall led to a straight path with a double +flower border. I suppose there was a vegetable garden behind the +borders, but of that I have no recollection, only a vivid remembrance of +that brilliantly beautiful mass of flowers. The picture was good enough +as one went along, especially as at the end one came first within sound +and then within sight of a rushing river, one of those swift, clear, +shallow streams with stony bottom that the trout love; but it was ten +times more beautiful on turning to go back, for there was the mass of +flowers, and towering high above it the noble mass of the giant +structure--one of the greatest and yet most graceful buildings that has +ever been raised by man to the glory of God. + +It is true that it is not every one that has the advantage of a garden +bounded by a river and a noble church, but even these advantages might +have been lost by vulgar or unsuitable treatment of the garden. But the +mind of the master was so entirely in sympathy with the place, that no +one that had the privilege of seeing it could feel that it was otherwise +than right and beautiful. + +Both these were the gardens of clergymen; indeed, some of our greatest +gardeners are, and have been, within the ranks of the Church. For have +we not a brilliantly-gifted dignitary whose loving praise of the Queen +of flowers has become a classic? and have we not among churchmen the +greatest grower of seedling Daffodils the world has yet seen, and other +names of clergymen honourably associated with Roses and Auriculas and +Tulips and other good flowers, and all greatly to their bettering? The +conditions of the life of a parish priest would tend to make him a good +gardener, for, while other men roam about, he stays mostly at home, and +to live with one's garden is one of the best ways to ensure its welfare. +And then, among the many anxieties and vexations and disappointments +that must needs grieve the heart of the pastor of his people, his +garden, with its wholesome labour and all its lessons of patience and +trust and hopefulness, and its comforting power of solace, must be one +of the best of medicines for the healing of his often sorrowing soul. + +I do not envy the owners of very large gardens. The garden should fit +its master or his tastes just as his clothes do; it should be neither +too large nor too small, but just comfortable. If the garden is larger +than he can individually govern and plan and look after, then he is no +longer its master but its slave, just as surely as the much-too-rich man +is the slave and not the master of his superfluous wealth. And when I +hear of the great place with a kitchen garden of twenty acres within the +walls, my heart sinks as I think of the uncomfortable disproportion +between the man and those immediately around him, and his vast output of +edible vegetation, and I fall to wondering how much of it goes as it +should go, or whether the greater part of it does not go dribbling away, +leaking into unholy back-channels; and of how the looking after it must +needs be subdivided; and of how many side-interests are likely to +steal in, and altogether how great a burden of anxiety or matter of +temptation it must give rise to. A grand truth is in the old farmer's +saying, "The master's eye makes the pig fat;" but how can any one +master's eye fat that vast pig of twenty acres, with all its minute and +costly cultivation, its two or three crops a year off all ground given +to soft vegetables, its stoves, greenhouses, orchid and orchard houses, +its vineries, pineries, figgeries, and all manner of glass structures? + +But happily these monstrous gardens are but few--I only know of or have +seen two, but I hope never to see another. + +Nothing is more satisfactory than to see the well-designed and +well-organised garden of the large country house, whose master loves his +garden, and has good taste and a reasonable amount of leisure. + +I think that the first thing in such a place is to have large unbroken +lawn spaces--all the better if they are continuous, passing round the +south and west sides of the house. I am supposing a house of the best +class, but not necessarily of the largest size. Immediately adjoining +the house, except for the few feet needed for a border for climbing +plants, is a broad walk, dry and smooth, and perfectly level from end to +end. This, in the case of many houses, and nearly always with good +effect, is raised two or three feet above the garden ground, and if the +architecture of the house demands it, has a retaining wall surmounted by +a balustrade of masonry and wrought stone. Broad and shallow stone +steps lead down to the turf both at the end of the walk and in the +middle of the front of the house, the wider and shallower the better, +and at the foot of the wall may be a narrow border for a few climbing +plants that will here and there rise above the coping of the parapet. I +do not think it desirable where there are stone balusters or other +distinct architectural features to let them be smothered with climbing +plants, but that there should be, say, a _Pyrus japonica_ or an +Escallonia, and perhaps a white Jasmine, and on a larger space perhaps a +cut-leaved or a Claret Vine. Some of the best effects of the kind I have +seen were where the bush, being well established, rose straight out of +the grass, the border being unnecessary except just at the beginning. + +The large lawn space I am supposing stretches away a good distance from +the house, and is bounded on the south and west by fine trees; away +beyond that is all wild wood. On summer afternoons the greater part of +the lawn expanse is in cool shade, while winter sunsets show through the +tree stems. Towards the south-east the wood would pass into shrub +plantations, and farther still into garden and wild orchard (of which I +shall have something to say presently). At this end of the lawn would be +the brilliant parterre of bedded plants, seen both from the shaded lawn +and from the terrace, which at this end forms part of its design. Beyond +the parterre would be a distinct division from the farther garden, +either of Yew or Box hedge, with bays for seats, or in the case of a +change of level, of another terrace wall. The next space beyond would be +the main garden for hardy plants, at its southern end leading into the +wild orchard. This would be the place for the free garden or the reserve +garden, or for any of the many delightful ways in which hardy flowers +can be used; and if it happened by good fortune to have a stream or any +means of having running water, the possibilities of beautiful gardening +would be endless. + +[Illustration: GARLAND-ROSE WREATHING THE END OF A TERRACE WALL.] + +Beyond this again would come the kitchen garden, and after that the +stables and the home farm. If the kitchen garden had a high wall, and +might be entered on this side by handsome wrought-iron gates, I would +approach it from the parterre by a broad grass walk bounded by large Bay +trees at equal intervals to right and left. Through these to the right +would be seen the free garden of hardy flowers. + +For the kitchen garden a space of two acres would serve a large country +house with all that is usually grown within walls, but there should +always be a good space outside for the rougher vegetables, as well as a +roomy yard for compost, pits and frames, and rubbish. + +And here I wish to plead on behalf of the gardener that he should have +all reasonable comforts and conveniences. Nothing is more frequent, even +in good places, than to find the potting and tool sheds screwed away +into some awkward corner, badly lighted, much too small, and altogether +inadequate, and the pits and frames scattered about and difficult to get +at. Nothing is more wasteful of time, labour, or temper. The working +parts of a large garden form a complicated organisation, and if the +parts of the mechanism do not fit and work well, and are not properly +eased and oiled, still more, if any are missing, there must be +disastrous friction and damage and loss of power. In designing garden +buildings, I always strongly urge in connection with the heating system +a warmed potting shed and a comfortable messroom for the men, and over +this a perfectly dry loft for drying and storing such matters as shading +material, nets, mats, ropes, and sacks. If this can be warmed, so much +the better. There must also be a convenient and quite frost-proof place +for winter storing of vegetable roots and such plants as Dahlias, +Cannas, and Gladiolus; and also a well-lighted and warmed workshop for +all the innumerable jobs put aside for wet weather, of which the chief +will be repainting and glazing of lights, repairing implements, and +grinding and setting tools. This shop should have a carpenter's bench +and screw, and a smith's anvil, and a proper assortment of tools. Such +arrangements, well planned and thought out, will save much time and loss +of produce, besides helping to make all the people employed more +comfortable and happy. + +I think that a garden should never be large enough to be tiring, that if +a large space has to be dealt with, a great part had better be laid out +in wood. Woodland is always charming and restful and enduringly +beautiful, and then there is an intermediate kind of woodland that +should be made more of--woodland of the orchard type. Why is the orchard +put out of the way, as it generally is, in some remote region beyond the +kitchen garden and stables? I should like the lawn, or the hardy flower +garden, or both, to pass directly into it on one side, and to plant a +space of several acres, not necessarily in the usual way, with orchard +standards twenty-five feet apart in straight rows (though in many places +the straight rows might be best), but to have groups and even groves of +such things as Medlars and Quinces, Siberian and Chinese Crabs, Damsons, +Prunes, Service trees, and Mountain Ash, besides Apples, Pears, and +Cherries, in both standard and bush forms. Then alleys of Filbert and +Cob-nut, and in the opener spaces tangles or brakes of the many +beautiful bushy things allied to the Apple and Plum tribe--_Cydonia_ and +_Prunus triloba_ and _Crataegus_ of many kinds (some of them are tall +bushes or small trees with beautiful fruits); and the wild Blackthorn, +which, though a plum, is so nearly related to pear that pears may be +grafted on it. And then brakes of Blackberries, especially of the +Parsley-leaved kind, so free of growth and so generous of fruit. How is +it that this fine native plant is almost invariably sold in nurseries as +an American bramble? If I am mistaken in this I should be glad to be +corrected, but I believe it to be only the cut-leaved variety of the +native _Rubus affinis_. + +I have tried the best of the American kinds, and with the exception of +one year, when I had a few fine fruits from Kittatinny, they had been a +failure, whereas invariably when people have told me that their American +Blackberries have fruited well, I have found them to be the +Parsley-leaved. + +Some members of the large Rose-Apple-Plum tribe grow to be large forest +trees, and in my wild orchard they would go in the farther parts. The +Bird-cherry (_Prunus padus_) grows into a tree of the largest size. A +Mountain Ash will sometimes have a trunk two feet in diameter, and a +head of a size to suit. The American kind, its near relation, but with +larger leaves and still grander masses of berries, is a noble small +tree; and the native white Beam should not be forgotten, and choice +places should be given to Amelanchier and the lovely double Japan Apple +(_Pyrus malus floribunda_). To give due space and effect to all these +good things my orchard garden would run into a good many acres, but +every year it would be growing into beauty and profit. The grass should +be left rough, and plentifully planted with Daffodils, and with Cowslips +if the soil is strong. The grass would be mown and made into hay in +June, and perhaps mown once more towards the end of September. Under the +nut-trees would be Primroses and the garden kinds of wood Hyacinths and +Dogtooth Violets and Lily of the Valley, and perhaps Snowdrops, or any +of the smaller bulbs that most commended themselves to the taste of the +master. + +Such an orchard garden, well-composed and beautifully grouped, always +with that indispensable quality of good "drawing," would not only be a +source of unending pleasure to those who lived in the place, but a +valuable lesson to all who saw it; for it would show the value of the +simple and sensible ways of using a certain class of related trees and +bushes, and of using them with a deliberate intention of making the best +of them, instead of the usual meaningless-nohow way of planting. This, +in nine cases out of ten, means either ignorance or carelessness, the +planter not caring enough about the matter to take the trouble to find +out what is best to be done, and being quite satisfied with a mixed lot +of shrubs, as offered in nursery sales, or with the choice of the +nurseryman. I do not presume to condemn all mixed planting, only stupid +and ignorant mixed planting. It is not given to all people to take their +pleasures alike; and I have in my mind four gardens, all of the highest +interest, in which the planting is all mixed; but then the mixture is of +admirable ingredients, collected and placed on account of individual +merit, and a ramble round any one of these in company with its owner is +a pleasure and a privilege that one cannot prize too highly. Where the +garden is of such large extent that experimental planting is made with a +good number of one good thing at a time, even though there was no +premeditated intention of planting for beautiful effect, the fact of +there being enough plants to fall into large groups, and to cover some +extent of ground, produces numbers of excellent results. I remember +being struck with this on several occasions when I have had the +happiness of visiting Mr. G. F. Wilson's garden at Wisley, a garden +which I take to be about the most instructive it is possible to see. In +one part, where the foot of the hill joined the copse, there were hosts +of lovely things planted on a succession of rather narrow banks. Almost +unthinkingly I expressed the regret I felt that so much individual +beauty should be there without an attempt to arrange it for good effect. +Mr. Wilson stopped, and looking at me straight with a kindly smile, said +very quietly, "That is your business, not mine." In spite of its being a +garden whose first object is trial and experiment, it has left in my +memory two pictures, among several lesser ones, of plant-beauty that +will stay with me as long as I can remember anything, one an autumn and +one a spring picture--the hedge of _Rosa rugosa_ in full fruit, and a +plantation of _Primula denticulata_. The Primrose was on a bit of level +ground, just at the outer and inner edges of the hazel copse. The plants +were both grouped and thinly sprinkled, just as nature plants--possibly +they grew directly there from seed. They were in superb and luxuriant +beauty in the black peaty-looking half-boggy earth, the handsome +leaves of the brilliant colour and large size that told of perfect +health and vigour, and the large round heads of pure lilac flower +carried on strong stalks that must have been fifteen inches high. I +never saw it so happy and so beautiful. It is a plant I much admire, and +I do the best I can for it on my dry hill; but the conditions of my +garden do not allow of any approach to the success of the Wisley plants; +still I have treasured that lesson among many others I have brought away +from that good garden, and never fail to advise some such treatment when +I see the likely home for it in other places. + +[Illustration: A ROADSIDE COTTAGE GARDEN.] + +Some of the most delightful of all gardens are the little strips in +front of roadside cottages. They have a simple and tender charm that one +may look for in vain in gardens of greater pretension. And the old +garden flowers seem to know that there they are seen at their best; for +where else can one see such Wallflowers, or Double Daisies, or White +Rose bushes; such clustering masses of perennial Peas, or such well-kept +flowery edgings of Pink, or Thrift, or London Pride? + +Among a good many calls for advice about laying out gardens, I remember +an early one that was of special interest. It was the window-box of a +factory lad in one of the great northern manufacturing towns. He had +advertised in a mechanical paper that he wanted a tiny garden, as full +of interest as might be, in a window-box; he knew nothing--would +somebody help him with advice? So advice was sent and the box prepared. +If I remember rightly the size was three feet by ten inches. A little +later the post brought him little plants of mossy and silvery +saxifrages, and a few small bulbs. Even some stones were sent, for it +was to be a rock-garden, and there were to be two hills of different +heights with rocky tops, and a longish valley with a sunny and a shady +side. + +It was delightful to have the boy's letters, full of keen interest and +eager questions, and only difficult to restrain him from killing his +plants with kindness, in the way of liberal doses of artificial manure. +The very smallness of the tiny garden made each of its small features +the more precious. I could picture his feeling of delightful +anticipation when he saw the first little bluish blade of the Snowdrop +patch pierce its mossy carpet. Would it, could it really grow into a +real Snowdrop, with the modest, milk-white flower and the pretty green +hearts on the outside of the inner petals, and the clear green stripes +within? and would it really nod him a glad good-morning when he opened +his window to greet it? And those few blunt reddish horny-looking snouts +just coming through the ground, would they really grow into the +brilliant blue of the early Squill, that would be like a bit of +midsummer sky among the grimy surroundings of the attic window, and +under that grey, soot-laden northern sky? I thought with pleasure how he +would watch them in spare minutes of the dinner-hour spent at home, and +think of them as he went forward and back to his work, and how the +remembrance of the tender beauty of the full-blown flower would make him +glad, and lift up his heart while "minding his mule" in the busy +restless mill. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +BEGINNING AND LEARNING + +The ignorant questioner -- Beginning at the end -- An example -- +Personal experience -- Absence of outer help -- Johns' "Flowers of the +Field" -- Collecting plants -- Nurseries near London -- Wheel-spokes as +labels -- Garden friends -- Mr. Robinson's "English Flower-Garden" -- +Mr. Nicholson's "Dictionary of Gardening" -- One main idea desirable -- +Pictorial treatment -- Training in fine art -- Adapting from Nature -- +Study of colour -- Ignorant use of the word "artistic." + + +Many people who love flowers and wish to do some practical gardening are +at their wit's end to know what to do and how to begin. Like a person +who is on skates for the first time, they feel that, what with the +bright steel runners, and the slippery surface, and the sense of +helplessness, there are more ways of tumbling about than of progressing +safely in any one direction. And in gardening the beginner must feel +this kind of perplexity and helplessness, and indeed there is a great +deal to learn, only it is pleasant instead of perilous, and the many +tumbles by the way only teach and do not hurt. The first few steps are +perhaps the most difficult, and it is only when we know something of the +subject and an eager beginner comes with questions that one sees how +very many are the things that want knowing. And the more ignorant the +questioner, the more difficult it is to answer helpfully. When one +knows, one cannot help presupposing some sort of knowledge on the part +of the querist, and where this is absent the answer we can give is of no +use. The ignorance, when fairly complete, is of such a nature that the +questioner does not know what to ask, and the question, even if it can +be answered, falls upon barren ground. I think in such cases it is +better to try and teach one simple thing at a time, and not to attempt +to answer a number of useless questions. It is disheartening when one +has tried to give a careful answer to have it received with an Oh! of +boredom or disappointment, as much as to say, You can't expect me to +take all that trouble; and there is the still more unsatisfactory sort +of applicant, who plies a string of questions and will not wait for the +answers! The real way is to try and learn a little from everybody and +from every place. There is no royal road. It is no use asking me or any +one else how to dig--I mean sitting indoors and asking it. Better go and +watch a man digging, and then take a spade and try to do it, and go on +trying till it comes, and you gain the knack that is to be learnt with +all tools, of doubling the power and halving the effort; and meanwhile +you will be learning other things, about your own arms and legs and +back, and perhaps a little robin will come and give you moral support, +and at the same time keep a sharp look-out for any worms you may happen +to turn up; and you will find out that there are all sorts of ways of +learning, not only from people and books, but from sheer trying. + +I remember years ago having to learn to use the blow-pipe, for soldering +and other purposes connected with work in gold and silver. The difficult +part of it is to keep up the stream of air through the pipe while you +are breathing the air in; it is easy enough when you only want a short +blast of a few seconds, within the compass of one breath or one filling +of the bellows (lungs), but often one has to go on blowing through +several inspirations. It is a trick of muscular action. My master who +taught me never could do it himself, but by much trying one day I caught +the trick. + +The grand way to learn, in gardening as in all things else, is to wish +to learn, and to be determined to find out--not to think that any one +person can wave a wand and give the power and knowledge. And there will +be plenty of mistakes, and there must be, just as children must pass +through the usual childish complaints. And some people make the mistake +of trying to begin at the end, and of using recklessly what may want the +utmost caution, such, for instance, as strong chemical manures. + +Some ladies asked me why their plant had died. They had got it from the +very best place, and they were sure they had done their very best for +it, and--there it was, dead. I asked what it was, and how they had +treated it. It was some ordinary border plant, whose identity I now +forget; they had made a nice hole with their new trowel, and for its +sole benefit they had bought a tin of Concentrated Fertiliser. This they +had emptied into the hole, put in the plant, and covered it up and given +it lots of water, and--it had died! And yet these were the best and +kindest of women, who would never have dreamed of feeding a new-born +infant on beefsteaks and raw brandy. But they learned their lesson well, +and at once saw the sense when I pointed out that a plant with naked +roots just taken out of the ground or a pot, removed from one +feeding-place and not yet at home in another, or still more after a +journey, with the roots only wrapped in a little damp moss and paper, +had its feeding power suspended for a time, and was in the position of a +helpless invalid. All that could be done for it then was a little bland +nutriment of weak slops and careful nursing; if the planting took place +in the summer it would want shading and only very gentle watering, until +firm root-hold was secured and root-appetite became active, and that in +rich and well-prepared garden ground such as theirs strong artificial +manure was in any case superfluous. + +When the earlier ignorances are overcome it becomes much easier to help +and advise, because there is more common ground to stand on. In my own +case, from quite a small child, I had always seen gardening going on, +though not of a very interesting kind. Nothing much was thought of but +bedding plants, and there was a rather large space on each side of the +house for these, one on gravel and one on turf. But I had my own little +garden in a nook beyond the shrubbery, with a seat shaded by a +_Boursault elegans_ Rose, which I thought then, and still think, one of +the loveliest of its kind. But my first knowledge of hardy plants came +through wild ones. Some one gave me that excellent book, the Rev. C. A. +Johns' "Flowers of the Field." For many years I had no one to advise me +(I was still quite small) how to use the book, or how to get to know +(though it stared me in the face) how the plants were in large related +families, and I had not the sense to do it for myself, nor to learn the +introductory botanical part, which would have saved much trouble +afterwards; but when I brought home my flowers I would take them one by +one and just turn over the pages till I came to the picture that looked +something like. But in this way I got a knowledge of individuals, and +afterwards the idea of broad classification and relationship of genera +to species may have come all the easier. I always think of that book as +the most precious gift I ever received. I distinctly trace to its +teaching my first firm steps in the path of plant knowledge, and the +feeling of assured comfort I had afterwards in recognising the kinds +when I came to collect garden plants; for at that time I had no other +garden book, no means of access to botanic gardens or private +collections, and no helpful adviser. + +One copy of "Johns" I wore right out; I have now two, of which one is in +its second binding, and is always near me for reference. I need hardly +say that this was long before the days of the "English Flower-Garden," +or its helpful predecessor, "Alpine Plants." + +By this time I was steadily collecting hardy garden plants wherever I +could find them, mostly from cottage gardens. Many of them were still +unknown to me by name, but as the collection increased I began to +compare and discriminate, and of various kinds of one plant to throw out +the worse and retain the better, and to train myself to see what made a +good garden plant, and about then began to grow the large yellow and +white bunch Primroses, whose history is in another chapter. And then I +learnt that there were such places (though then but few) as nurseries, +where such plants as I had been collecting in the cottage gardens, and +even better, were grown. And I went to Osborne's at Fulham (now all +built over), and there saw the original tree of the fine Ilex known as +the Fulham Oak, and several spring-flowering bulbs I had never seen +before, and what I felt sure were numbers of desirable summer-flowering +plants, but not then in bloom. Soon after this I began to learn +something about Daffodils, and enjoyed much kind help from Mr. Barr, +visiting his nursery (then at Tooting) several times, and sometimes +combining a visit to Parker's nursery just over the way, a perfect +paradise of good hardy plants. I shall never forget my first sight +here of the Cape Pondweed (_Aponogeton distachyon_) in full flower and +great vigour in the dipping tanks, and overflowing from them into the +ditches. + +Also I was delighted to see the use as labels of old wheel-spokes. I +could not help feeling that if one had been a spoke of a cab-wheel, and +had passed all one's working life in being whirled and clattered over +London pavements, defiled with street mud, how pleasant a way to end +one's days was this; to have one's felloe end pointed and dipped in nice +wholesome rot-resisting gas-tar and thrust into the quiet cool earth, +and one's nave end smoothed and painted and inscribed with some such +soothing legend as _Vinca minor_ or _Dianthus fragrans_! + +Later I made acquaintance with several of the leading amateur and +professional gardeners, and with Mr. Robinson, and to their good +comradeship and kindly willingness to let me "pick their brains" I owe a +great advance in garden lore. Moreover, what began by the drawing +together of a common interest has grown into a still greater benefit, +for several acquaintances so made have ripened into steady and +much-valued friendships. It has been a great interest to me to have had +the privilege of watching the gradual growth, through its several +editions, of Mr. Robinson's "English Flower-Garden," the one best and +most helpful book of all for those who want to know about hardy flowers, +offering as it does in the clearest and easiest way a knowledge of the +garden-treasures of the temperate world. No one who has not had +occasional glimpses behind the scenes can know how much labour and +thought such a book represents, to say nothing of research and practical +experiment, and of the trouble and great expense of producing the large +amount of pictorial illustration. Another book, though on quite +different lines, that I find most useful is Mr. Nicholson's "Illustrated +Dictionary of Gardening," in eight handy volumes. It covers much the +same ground as the useful old Johnson's "Gardener's Dictionary," but is +much more complete and comprehensive, and is copiously illustrated with +excellent wood-cuts. It is the work of a careful and learned botanist, +treating of all plants desirable for cultivation from all climates, and +teaching all branches of practical horticulture and such useful matters +as means of dealing with insect pests. The old "Johnson" is still a +capital book in one volume; mine is rather out of date, being the +edition of 1875, but it has been lately revised and improved. It would +be delightful to possess, or to have easy access to, a good botanical +library; still, for all the purposes of the average garden lover, these +books will suffice. + +I think it is desirable, when a certain degree of knowledge of plants +and facility of dealing with them has been acquired, to get hold of a +clear idea of what one most wishes to do. The scope of the subject is so +wide, and there are so many ways to choose from, that having one general +idea helps one to concentrate thought and effort that would otherwise +be wasted by being diluted and dribbled through too many probable +channels of waste. + +Ever since it came to me to feel some little grasp of knowledge of means +and methods, I have found that my greatest pleasure, both in garden and +woodland, has been in the enjoyment of beauty of a pictorial kind. +Whether the picture be large as of a whole landscape, or of lesser +extent as in some fine single group or effect, or within the space of +only a few inches as may be seen in some happily-disposed planting of +Alpines, the intention is always the same; or whether it is the grouping +of trees in the wood by the removal of those whose lines are not wanted +in the picture, or in the laying out of broad grassy ways in woody +places, or by ever so slight a turn or change of direction in a wood +path, or in the alteration of some arrangement of related groups for +form or for massing of light and shade, or for any of the many local +conditions that guide one towards forming a decision, the intention is +still always the same--to try and make a beautiful garden-picture. And +little as I can as yet boast of being able to show anything like the +number of these I could wish, yet during the flower-year there is +generally something that at least in part answers to the effort. + +I do not presume to urge the acceptance of my own particular form of +pleasure in a garden on those to whom, from different temperament or +manner of education, it would be unwelcome; I only speak of what I +feel, and to a certain degree understand; but I had the advantage in +earlier life of some amount of training in appreciation of the fine +arts, and this, working upon an inborn feeling of reverent devotion to +things of the highest beauty in the works of God, has helped me to an +understanding of their divinely-inspired interpretations by the noblest +minds of men, into those other forms that we know as works of fine art. + +And so it comes about that those of us who feel and understand in this +way do not exactly attempt to imitate Nature in our gardens, but try to +become well acquainted with her moods and ways, and then discriminate in +our borrowing, and so interpret her methods as best we may to the making +of our garden-pictures. + +I have always had great delight in the study of colour, as the word is +understood by artists, which again is not a positive matter, but one of +relation and proportion. And when one hears the common chatter about +"artistic colours," one receives an unpleasant impression about the +education and good taste of the speaker; and one is reminded of an old +saying which treats of the unwisdom of rushing in "where angels fear to +tread," and of regret that a good word should be degraded by misuse. It +may be safely said that no colour can be called artistic in itself; for, +in the first place, it is bad English, and in the second, it is +nonsense. Even if the first objection were waived, and the second +condoned, it could only be used in a secondary sense, as signifying +something that is useful and suitable and right in its place. In this +limited sense the scarlet of the soldier's coat, and of the pillar-box +and mail-cart, and the bright colours of flags, or of the port and +starboard lights of ships, might be said to be just so far "artistic" +(again if grammar would allow), as they are right and good in their +places. But then those who use the word in the usual ignorant, random +way have not even this simple conception of its meaning. Those who know +nothing about colour in the more refined sense (and like a knowledge of +everything else it wants learning) get no farther than to enjoy it only +when most crude and garish--when, as George Herbert says, it "bids the +rash gazer wipe his eye," or when there is some violent opposition of +complementary colour--forgetting, or not knowing, that though in detail +the objects brought together may make each other appear brighter, yet in +the mass, and especially when mixed up, the one actually neutralises the +other. And they have no idea of using the colour of flowers as precious +jewels in a setting of quiet environment, or of suiting the colour of +flowering groups to that of the neighbouring foliage, thereby enhancing +the value of both, or of massing related or harmonious colourings so as +to lead up to the most powerful and brilliant effects; and yet all these +are just the ways of employing colour to the best advantage. + +But the most frequent fault, whether in composition or in colour, is the +attempt to crowd too much into the picture; the simpler effect obtained +by means of temperate and wise restraint is always the more telling. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE FLOWER-BORDER AND PERGOLA + +The flower-border -- The wall and its occupants -- _Choisya ternata_ -- +Nandina -- Canon Ellacombe's garden -- Treatment of colour-masses -- +Arrangement of plants in the border -- Dahlias and Cannas -- Covering +bare places -- The pergola -- How made -- Suitable climbers -- Arbours +of trained Planes -- Garden houses. + + +I have a rather large "mixed border of hardy flowers." It is not quite +so hopelessly mixed as one generally sees, and the flowers are not all +hardy; but as it is a thing everybody rightly expects, and as I have +been for a good many years trying to puzzle out its wants and ways, I +will try and describe my own and its surroundings. + +There is a sandstone wall of pleasant colour at the back, nearly eleven +feet high. This wall is an important feature in the garden, as it is the +dividing line between the pleasure garden and the working garden; also, +it shelters the pleasure garden from the sweeping blasts of wind from +the north-west, to which my ground is much exposed, as it is all on a +gentle slope, going downward towards the north. At the foot of the wall +is a narrow border three feet six inches wide, and then a narrow alley, +not a made path, but just a way to go along for tending the wall +shrubs, and for getting at the back of the border. This little alley +does not show from the front. Then the main border, fourteen feet wide +and two hundred feet long. About three-quarters of the way along a path +cuts through the border, and passes by an arched gateway in the wall to +the Paeony garden and the working garden beyond. Just here I thought it +would be well to mound up the border a little, and plant with groups of +Yuccas, so that at all times of the year there should be something to +make a handsome full-stop to the sections of the border, and to glorify +the doorway. The two extreme ends of the border are treated in the same +way with Yuccas on rather lesser mounds, only leaving space beyond them +for the entrance to the little alley at the back. + +[Illustration: A FLOWER-BORDER IN JUNE.] + +The wall and border face two points to the east of south, or, as a +sailor would say, south-south-east, half-way between south and +south-east. In front of the border runs a path seven feet wide, and +where the border stops at the eastern end it still runs on another sixty +feet, under the pergola, to the open end of a summer-house. The wall at +its western end returns forward, square with its length, and hides out +greenhouses, sheds, and garden yard. The path in front of the border +passes through an arch into this yard, but there is no view into the +yard, as it is blocked by some Yews planted in a quarter-circle. + +Though wall-space is always precious, I thought it better to block out +this shorter piece of return wall on the garden side with a hedge of +Yews. They are now nearly the height of the wall, and will be allowed to +grow a little higher, and will eventually be cut into an arch over the +arch in the wall. I wanted the sombre duskiness of the Yews as a rich, +quiet background for the brightness of the flowers, though they are +rather disappointing in May and June, when their young shoots are of a +bright and lively green. At the eastern end of the border there is no +return wall, but another planting of Yews equal to the depth of the +border. Notched into them is a stone seat about ten feet long; as they +grow they will be clipped so as to make an arching hood over the seat. + +The wall is covered with climbers, or with non-climbing shrubs treated +as wall-plants. They do not all want the wall for warmth or protection, +but are there because I want them there; because, thinking over what +things would look best and give me the greatest pleasure, these came +among them. All the same, the larger number of the plants on the wall do +want it, and would not do without it. At the western end, the only part +which is in shade for the greater part of the day, is a _Garrya +elliptica_. So many of my garden friends like a quiet journey along the +wall to see what is there, that I propose to do the like by my reader; +so first for the wall, and then for the border. Beyond the _Garrya_, in +the extreme angle, is a _Clematis montana_. When the _Garrya_ is more +grown there will not be much room left for the Clematis, but then it +will have become bare below, and can ramble over the wall on the north +side, and, in any case, it is a plant with a not very long lifetime, and +will be nearly or quite worn out before its root-space is reached or +wanted by its neighbours. Next on the wall is the beautiful Rose Acacia +(_Robinia hispida_). It is perfectly hardy, but the wood is so brittle +that it breaks off short with the slightest weight of wind or snow or +rain. I never could understand why a hardy shrub was created so brittle, +or how it behaves in its native place. I look in my "Nicholson," and see +that it comes from North America. Now, North America is a large place, +and there may be in it favoured spots where there is no snow, and only +the very gentlest rain, and so well sheltered that the wind only blows +in faintest breaths; and to judge by its behaviour in our gardens, all +these conditions are necessary for its well-being. This troublesome +quality of brittleness no doubt accounts for its being so seldom seen in +gardens. I began to think it hopeless when, after three plantings in the +open, it was again wrecked, but at last had the happy idea of training +it on a wall. Even there, though it is looked over and tied in twice a +year, a branch or two often gets broken. But I do not regret having +given it the space, as the wall could hardly have had a better ornament, +so beautiful are its rosy flower-clusters and pale-green leaves. As it +inclines to be leggy below, I have trained a Crimson Rambler Rose over +the lower part, tying it in to any bare places in the _Robinia_. + +[Illustration: PATHWAY ACROSS THE SOUTH BORDER IN JULY.] + +[Illustration: OUTSIDE VIEW OF THE BRICK PERGOLA SHOWN AT PAGE 214, +AFTER SIX YEARS' GROWTH.] + +Next along the wall is _Solanum crispum_, much to be recommended in our +southern counties. It covers a good space of wall, and every year shoots +up some feet above it; indeed it is such a lively grower that it has to +endure a severe yearly pruning. Every season it is smothered with its +pretty clusters of potato-shaped bloom of a good bluish-lilac colour. +After these I wanted some solid-looking dark evergreens, so there is a +Loquat, with its splendid foliage equalling that of _Magnolia +grandiflora_, and then Black Laurustinus, Bay, and Japan Privet; and +from among this dark-leaved company shoots up the tender green of a +Banksian Rose, grown from seed of the single kind, the gift of my kind +friend Commendatore Hanbury, whose world-famed garden of La Mortola, +near Ventimiglia, probably contains the most remarkable collection of +plants and shrubs that have ever been brought together by one man. This +Rose has made good growth, and a first few flowers last year--seedling +Roses are slow to bloom--lead me to expect a good show next season. + +In the narrow border at the foot of the wall is a bush of _Raphiolepis +ovata_, always to me an interesting shrub, with its thick, roundish, +leathery leaves and white flower-clusters, also bushes of Rosemary, some +just filling the border, and some trained up the wall. Our Tudor +ancestors were fond of Rosemary-covered walls, and I have seen old +bushes quite ten feet high on the garden walls of Italian monasteries. +Among the Rosemaries I always like, if possible, to "tickle in" a China +Rose or two, the tender pink of the Rose seems to go so well with the +dark but dull-surfaced Rosemary. Then still in the wall-border comes a +long straggling mass of that very pretty and interesting herbaceous +Clematis, _C. Davidiana_. The colour of its flower always delights me; +it is of an unusual kind of greyish-blue, of very tender and lovely +quality. It does well in this warm border, growing about three feet +high. Then on the wall come _Pyrus Maulei_ and _Chimonanthus_, +Claret-Vine, and the large-flowered _Ceanothus_ Gloire de Versailles, +hardy _Fuchsia_, and _Magnolia Soulangeana_, ending with a big bush of +_Choisya ternata_, and rambling above it a very fine kind of _Bignonia +grandiflora_. + +Then comes the archway, flanked by thick buttresses. A Choisya was +planted just beyond each of these, but it has grown wide and high, +spreading across the face of the buttress on each side, and considerably +invading the pathway. There is no better shrub here than this delightful +Mexican plant; its long whippy roots ramble through our light soil with +every sign of enjoyment; it always looks clean and healthy and well +dressed, and as for its lovely and deliciously sweet flowers, we cut +them by the bushel, and almost by the faggot, and the bushes scarcely +look any the emptier. + +Beyond the archway comes the shorter length of wall and border. For +convenience I planted all slightly tender things together on this bit of +wall and border; then we make one job of covering the whole with +fir-boughs for protection in winter. On the wall are _Piptanthus +nepalensis_, _Cistus ladaniferus_, _Edwardsia grandiflora_, and another +Loquat, and in the border a number of Hydrangeas, _Clerodendron +foetidum_, _Crinums_, and _Nandina domestica_, the Chinese so-called +sacred Bamboo. It is not a Bamboo at all, but allied to _Berberis_; the +Chinese plant it for good luck near their houses. If it is as lucky as +it is pretty, it ought to do one good! I first made acquaintance with +this beautiful plant in Canon Ellacombe's most interesting garden at +Bitton, in Gloucestershire, where it struck me as one of the most +beautiful growing things I had ever seen, the beauty being mostly in the +form and colouring of the leaves. It is not perhaps a plant for +everybody, and barely hardly; it seems slow to get hold, and its full +beauty only shows when it is well established, and throws up its +wonderfully-coloured leaves on tall bamboo-like stalks. + +There is nothing much more difficult to do in outdoor gardening than to +plant a mixed border well, and to keep it in beauty throughout the +summer. Every year, as I gain more experience, and, I hope, more power +of critical judgment, I find myself tending towards broader and simpler +effects, both of grouping and colour. I do not know whether it is by +individual preference, or in obedience to some colour-law that I can +instinctively feel but cannot pretend even to understand, and much less +to explain, but in practice I always find more satisfaction and facility +in treating the warm colours (reds and yellows) in graduated harmonies, +culminating into gorgeousness, and the cool ones in contrasts; +especially in the case of blue, which I like to use either in distinct +but not garish contrasts, as of full blue with pale yellow, or in +separate cloud-like harmonies, as of lilac and pale purple with grey +foliage. I am never so much inclined to treat the blues, purples, and +lilacs in gradations together as I am the reds and yellows. Purples and +lilacs I can put together, but not these with blues; and the pure blues +always seem to demand peculiar and very careful treatment. + +The western end of the flower-border begins with the low bank of Yuccas, +then there are some rather large masses of important grey and glaucous +foliage and pale and full pink flower. The foliage is mostly of the +Globe Artichoke, and nearer the front of _Artemisia_ and _Cineraria +maritima_. Among this, pink Canterbury Bell, Hollyhock, Phlox, +Gladiolus, and Japan Anemone, all in pink colourings, will follow one +another in due succession. Then come some groups of plants bearing +whitish and very pale flowers, _Polygonum compactum_, _Aconitum +lycoctonum_, Double Meadowsweet, and other Spiraeas, and then the colour +passes to pale yellow of Mulleins, and with them the palest blue +Delphiniums. Towards the front is a wide planting of _Iris pallida +dalmatica_, its handsome bluish foliage showing as outstanding and yet +related masses with regard to the first large group of pale foliage. +Then comes the pale-yellow _Iris flavescens_, and meanwhile the group +of Delphinium deepens into those of a fuller blue colour, though none of +the darkest are here. Then more pale yellow of Mullein, Thalictrum, and +Paris Daisy, and so the colour passes to stronger yellows. These change +into orange, and from that to brightest scarlet and crimson, coming to +the fullest strength in the Oriental Poppies of the earlier year, and +later in Lychnis, Gladiolus, Scarlet Dahlia, and Tritoma. The +colour-scheme then passes again through orange and yellow to the paler +yellows, and so again to blue and warm white, where it meets one of the +clumps of Yuccas flanking the path that divides this longer part of the +border from the much shorter piece beyond. This simple procession of +colour arrangement has occupied a space of a hundred and sixty feet, and +the border is all the better for it. + +The short length of border beyond the gateway has again Yuccas and +important pale foliage, and a preponderance of pink bloom, Hydrangea for +the most part; but there are a few tall Mulleins, whose pale-yellow +flowers group well with the ivory of the Yucca spikes and the clear pink +of the tall Hollyhocks. These all show up well over the masses of grey +and glaucous foliage, and against the rich darkness of dusky Yew. + +Dahlias and Cannas have their places in the mixed border. When it is +being dismantled in the late autumn all bare places are well dug and +enriched, so that when it comes to filling-up time, at the end of May, I +know that every spare bit of space is ready and at the time of +preparation I mark places for special Dahlias, according to colour, and +for groups of the tall Cannas where I want grand foliage. + +There are certain classes of plants that are quite indispensable, but +that leave a bare or shabby-looking place when their bloom is over. How +to cover these places is one of the problems that have to be solved. The +worst offender is Oriental Poppy; it becomes unsightly soon after +blooming, and is quite gone by midsummer. I therefore plant _Gypsophila +paniculata_ between and behind the Poppy groups, and by July there is a +delicate cloud of bloom instead of large bare patches. _Eryngium +Oliverianum_ has turned brown by the beginning of July, but around the +group some Dahlias have been planted, that will be gradually trained +down over the space of the departed Sea-Holly, and other Dahlias are +used in the same way to mask various weak places. + +There is a perennial Sunflower, with tall black stems, and pale-yellow +flowers quite at the top, an old garden sort, but not very good as +usually grown; this I find of great value to train down, when it throws +up a short flowering stem from each joint, and becomes a spreading sheet +of bloom. + +One would rather not have to resort to these artifices of sticking and +training; but if a certain effect is wanted, all such means are lawful, +provided that nothing looks stiff or strained or unsightly; and it is +pleasant to exercise ingenuity and to invent ways to meet the needs of +any case that may arise. But like everything else, in good gardening it +must be done just right, and the artist-gardener finds that hardly the +placing of a single plant can be deputed to any other hand than his own; +for though, when it is done, it looks quite simple and easy, he must +paint his own picture himself--no one can paint it for him. + +I have no dogmatic views about having in the so-called hardy +flower-border none but hardy flowers. All flowers are welcome that are +right in colour, and that make a brave show where a brave show is +wanted. It is of more importance that the border should be handsome than +that all its occupants should be hardy. Therefore I prepare a certain +useful lot of half-hardy annuals, and a few of what have come to be +called bedding-plants. I like to vary them a little from year to year, +because in no one season can I get in all the good flowers that I should +like to grow; and I think it better to leave out some one year and have +them the next, than to crowd any up, or to find I have plants to put out +and no space to put them in. But I nearly always grow these half-hardy +annuals; orange African Marigold, French Marigold, sulphur Sunflower, +orange and scarlet tall Zinnia, Nasturtiums, both dwarf and trailing, +_Nicotiana affinis_, Maize, and Salpiglossis. Then Stocks and China +Asters. The Stocks are always the large white and flesh-coloured summer +kinds, and the Asters, the White Comet, and one of the blood-red or +so-called scarlet sorts. + +Then I have yellow Paris Daisies, _Salvia patens_, Heliotrope, +_Calceolaria amplexicaulis_, Geraniums, scarlet and salmon-coloured and +ivy-leaved kinds, the best of these being the pink Madame Crousse. + +[Illustration: END OF FLOWER-BORDER AND ENTRANCE OF PERGOLA.] + +[Illustration: SOUTH BORDER DOOR AND YUCCAS IN AUGUST.] + +The front edges of the border are also treated in rather a large way. At +the shadier end there is first a long straggling bordering patch of +_Anemone sylvestris_. When it is once above ground the foliage remains +good till autumn, while its soft white flower comes right with the +colour of the flowers behind. Then comes a long and large patch of the +larger kind of _Megasea cordifolia_, several yards in length, and +running back here and there among taller plants. I am never tired of +admiring the fine solid foliage of this family of plants, remaining, as +it does, in beauty both winter and summer, and taking on a splendid +winter colouring of warm red bronze. It is true that the flowers of the +two best-known kinds, _M. cordifolia_ and _M. crassifolia_, are +coarse-looking blooms of a strong and rank quality of pink colour, but +the persistent beauty of the leaves more than compensates; and in the +rather tenderer kind, _M. ligulata_ and its varieties, the colour of the +flower is delightful, of a delicate good pink, with almost scarlet +stalks. There is nothing flimsy or temporary-looking about the Megaseas, +but rather a sort of grave and monumental look that specially fits them +for association with masonry, or for any place where a solid-looking +edging or full-stop is wanted. To go back to those in the edge of the +border: if the edging threatens to look too dark and hard, I plant +among or just behind the plants that compose it, pink or scarlet Ivy +Geranium or trailing Nasturtium, according to the colour demanded by the +neighbouring group. _Heuchera Richardsoni_ is another good front-edge +plant; and when we come to the blue and pale-yellow group there is a +planting of _Funkia grandiflora_, whose fresh-looking pale-green leaves +are delightful with the brilliant light yellow of _Calceolaria +amplexicaulis_, and the farther-back planting of pale-blue Delphinium, +Mullein, and sulphur Sunflower; while the same colour of foliage is +repeated in the fresh green of the Indian Corn. Small spaces occur here +and there along the extreme front edge, and here are planted little +jewels of colour, of blue Lobelia, or dwarf Nasturtium, or anything of +the colour that the place demands. + +The whole thing sounds much more elaborate than it really is; the +trained eye sees what is wanted, and the trained hand does it, both by +an acquired instinct. It is painting a picture with living plants. + +I much enjoy the pergola at the end of the sunny path. It is pleasant +while walking in full sunshine, and when that sunny place feels just a +little too hot, to look into its cool depth, and to feel that one has +only to go a few steps farther to be in shade, and to feel that little +air of wind that the moving summer clouds say is not far off, and is +only unfelt just here because it is stopped by the wall. It feels +wonderfully dark at first, this gallery of cool greenery, passing into +it with one's eyes full of light and colour, and the open-sided +summer-house at the end looks like a black cavern; but on going into it, +and sitting down on one of its broad, low benches, one finds that it is +a pleasant subdued light, just right to read by. + +The pergola has two openings out of it on the right, and one on the +left. The first way out on the right is straight into the nut-walk, +which leads up to very near the house. The second goes up two or three +low, broad steps made of natural sandstone flags, between groups of +Ferns, into the Michaelmas Daisy garden. The opening on the left leads +into a quiet space of grass the width of the flower and wall border +(twenty feet), having only some peat-beds planted with Kalmia. This is +backed by a Yew hedge in continuation of the main wall, and it will soon +grow into a cool, quiet bit of garden, seeming to belong to the pergola. +Now, standing midway in the length of the covered walk, with the eye +rested and refreshed by the leafy half-light, on turning round again +towards the border it shows as a brilliant picture through the bowery +framing, and the value of the simple method of using the colours is seen +to full advantage. + +I do not like a mean pergola, made of stuff as thin as hop-poles. If +means or materials do not admit of having anything better, it is far +better to use these in some other simple way, of which there are many to +choose from--such as uprights at even intervals, braced together with a +continuous rail at about four feet from the ground, and another rail +just clear of the ground, and some simple trellis of the smaller stuff +between these two rails. This is always pretty at the back of a +flower-border in any modest garden. But a pergola should be more +seriously treated, and the piers at any rate should be of something +rather large--either oak stems ten inches thick, or, better still, of +fourteen-inch brickwork painted with lime-wash to a quiet stone-colour. +In Italy the piers are often of rubble masonry, either round or square +in section, coated with very coarse plaster, and lime-washed white. For +a pergola of moderate size the piers should stand in pairs across the +path, with eight feet clear between. Ten feet from pier to pier along +the path is a good proportion, or anything from eight to ten feet, and +they should stand seven feet two inches out of the ground. Each pair +should be tied across the top with a strong beam of oak, either of the +natural shape, or roughly adzed on the four faces; but in any case, the +ends of the beams, where they rest on the top of the piers, should be +adzed flat to give them a firm seat. If the beams are slightly curved or +cambered, as most trunks of oak are, so much the better, but they must +always be placed camber side up. The pieces that run along the top, with +the length of the path, may be of any branching tops of oak, or of larch +poles. These can easily be replaced as they decay; but the replacing of +a beam is a more difficult matter, so that it is well to let them be +fairly durable from the beginning. + +[Illustration: STONE-BUILT PERGOLA WITH WROUGHT OAK BEAMS.] + +[Illustration: PERGOLA WITH BRICK PIERS AND BEAMS OF ROUGH OAK. (_See +opposite page 202._)] + +The climbers I find best for covering the pergola are Vines, Jasmine, +Aristolochia, Virginia Creeper, and Wistaria. Roses are about the worst, +for they soon run up leggy, and only flower at the top out of sight. + +A sensible arrangement, allied to the pergola, and frequent in Germany +and Switzerland, is made by planting young Planes, pollarding them at +about eight feet from the ground, and training down the young growths +horizontally till they have covered the desired roof-space. + +There is much to be done in our better-class gardens in the way of +pretty small structures thoroughly well-designed and built. Many a large +lawn used every afternoon in summer as a family playground and place to +receive visitors would have its comfort and usefulness greatly increased +by a pretty garden-house, instead of the usual hot and ugly, crampy and +uncomfortable tent. But it should be thoroughly well designed to suit +the house and garden. A pigeon-cote would come well in the upper part, +and the face or faces open to the lawn might be closed in winter with +movable shutters, when it would make a useful store-place for garden +seats and much else. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE PRIMROSE GARDEN + + +It must be some five-and-twenty years ago that I began to work at what I +may now call my own strain of Primroses, improving it a little every +year by careful selection of the best for seed. The parents of the +strain were a named kind, called Golden Plover, and a white one, without +name, that I found in a cottage garden. I had also a dozen plants about +eight or nine years ago from a strong strain of Mr. Anthony Waterer's +that was running on nearly the same lines; but a year later, when I had +flowered them side by side, I liked my own one rather the best, and Mr. +Waterer, seeing them soon after, approved of them so much that he took +some to work with his own. I hold Mr. Waterer's strain in great +admiration, and, though I tried for a good many years, never could come +near him in red colourings. But as my own taste favoured the +delicately-shaded flowers, and the ones most liked in the nursery seemed +to be those with strongly contrasting eye, it is likely that the two +strains may be working still farther apart. + +They are, broadly speaking, white and yellow varieties of the strong +bunch-flowered or Polyanthus kind, but they vary in detail so much, in +form, colour, habit, arrangement, and size of eye and shape of edge, +that one year thinking it might be useful to classify them I tried to do +so, but gave it up after writing out the characters of sixty classes! +Their possible variation seems endless. Every year among the seedlings +there appear a number of charming flowers with some new development of +size, or colour of flower, or beauty of foliage, and yet all within the +narrow bounds of--white and yellow Primroses. + +[Illustration: EVENING IN THE PRIMROSE GARDEN.] + +Their time of flowering is much later than that of the true or +single-stalked Primrose. They come into bloom early in April, though a +certain number of poorly-developed flowers generally come much earlier, +and they are at their best in the last two weeks of April and the first +days of May. When the bloom wanes, and is nearly overtopped by the +leaves, the time has come that I find best for dividing and replanting. +The plants then seem willing to divide, some almost falling apart in +one's hands, and the new roots may be seen just beginning to form at the +base of the crown. The plants are at the same time relieved of the +crowded mass of flower-stem, and, therefore, of the exhausting effort of +forming seed, a severe drain on their strength. A certain number will +not have made more than one strong crown, and a few single-crown plants +have not flowered; these, of course, do not divide. During the flowering +time I keep a good look-out for those that I judge to be the most +beautiful and desirable, and mark them for seed. These are also taken +up, but are kept apart, the flower stems reduced to one or two of the +most promising, and they are then planted in a separate place--some cool +nursery corner. I find that the lifting and replanting in no way checks +the growth or well-being of the seed-pods. + +I remember some years ago a warm discussion in the gardening papers +about the right time to sow the seed. Some gardeners of high standing +were strongly for sowing it as soon as ripe, while others equally +trustworthy advised holding it over till March. I have tried both ways, +and have satisfied myself that it is a matter for experiment and +decision in individual gardens. As nearly as I can make out, it is well +in heavy soils to sow when ripe, and in light ones to wait till March. +In some heavy soils Primroses stand well for two years without division; +whereas in light ones, such as mine, they take up the food within reach +in a much shorter time, so that by the second year the plant has become +a crowded mass of weak crowns that only throw up poor flowers, and are +by then so much exhausted that they are not worth dividing afterwards. +In my own case, having tried both ways, I find the March sown ones much +the best. + +The seed is sown in boxes in cold frames, and pricked out again into +boxes when large enough to handle. The seedlings are planted out in +June, when they seem to go on without any check whatever, and are just +right for blooming next spring. + +The Primrose garden is in a place by itself--a clearing half shaded by +Oak, Chestnut, and Hazel. I always think of the Hazel as a kind nurse to +Primroses; in the copses they generally grow together, and the finest +Primrose plants are often nestled close in to the base of the nut-stool. +Three paths run through the Primrose garden, mere narrow tracks between +the beds, converging at both ends, something like the lines of longitude +on a globe, the ground widening in the middle where there are two +good-sized Oaks, and coming to a blunt point at each end, the only other +planting near it being two other long-shaped strips of Lily of the +Valley. + +Every year, before replanting, the Primrose ground is dug over and well +manured. All day for two days I sit on a low stool dividing the plants; +a certain degree of facility and expertness has come of long practice. +The "rubber" for frequent knife-sharpening is in a pail of water by my +side; the lusciously fragrant heap of refuse leaf and flower-stem and +old stocky root rises in front of me, changing its shape from a heap to +a ridge, as when it comes to a certain height and bulk I back and back +away from it. A boy feeds me with armfuls of newly-dug-up plants, two +men are digging-in the cooling cow-dung at the farther end, and another +carries away the divided plants tray by tray, and carefully replants +them. The still air, with only the very gentlest south-westerly breath +in it, brings up the mighty boom of the great ship guns from the old +seaport, thirty miles away, and the pheasants answer to the sound as +they do to thunder. The early summer air is of a perfect temperature, +the soft coo of the wood-dove comes down from the near wood, the +nightingale sings almost overhead, but--either human happiness may never +be quite complete, or else one is not philosophic enough to contemn +life's lesser evils, for--oh, the midges! + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +COLOURS OF FLOWERS + + +I am always surprised at the vague, not to say reckless, fashion in +which garden folk set to work to describe the colours of flowers, and at +the way in which quite wrong colours are attributed to them. It is done +in perfect good faith, and without the least consciousness of describing +wrongly. In many cases it appears to be because the names of certain +substances have been used conventionally or poetically to convey the +idea of certain colours. And some of these errors are so old that they +have acquired a kind of respectability, and are in a way accepted +without challenge. When they are used about familiar flowers it does not +occur to one to detect them, because one knows the flower and its true +colour; but when the same old error is used in the description of a new +flower, it is distinctly misleading. For instance, when we hear of +golden buttercups, we know that it means bright-yellow buttercups; but +in the case of a new flower, or one not generally known, surely it is +better and more accurate to say bright yellow at once. Nothing is more +frequent in plant catalogues than "bright golden yellow," when bright +yellow is meant. Gold is not bright yellow. I find that a gold piece +laid on a gravel path, or against a sandy bank, nearly matches it in +colour; and I cannot think of any flower that matches or even approaches +the true colour of gold, though something near it may be seen in the +pollen-covered anthers of many flowers. A match for gold may more nearly +be found among dying beech leaves, and some dark colours of straw or dry +grass bents, but none of these when they match the gold are bright +yellow. In literature it is quite another matter; when the poet or +imaginative writer says, "a field of golden buttercups," or "a golden +sunset," he is quite right, because he appeals to our artistic +perception, and in such case only uses the word as an image of something +that is rich and sumptuous and glowing. + +The same irrelevance of comparison seems to run through all the colours. +Flowers of a full, bright-blue colour are often described as of a +"brilliant amethystine blue." Why amethystine? The amethyst, as we +generally see it, is a stone of a washy purple colour, and though there +are amethysts of a fine purple, they are not so often seen as the paler +ones, and I have never seen one even faintly approaching a really blue +colour. What, therefore, is the sense of likening a flower, such as a +Delphinium, which is really of a splendid pure-blue colour, to the +duller and totally different colour of a third-rate gem? + +Another example of the same slip-slop is the term flame-coloured, and +it is often preceded by the word "gorgeous." This contradictory mixture +of terms is generally used to mean bright scarlet. When I look at a +flame, whether of fire or candle, I see that the colour is a rather pale +yellow, with a reddish tinge about its upper forks, and side wings often +of a bluish white--no scarlet anywhere. The nearest approach to red is +in the coals, not in the flame. In the case of the candle, the point of +the wick is faintly red when compared with the flame, but about the +flame there is no red whatever. A distant bonfire looks red at night, +but I take it that the apparent redness is from seeing the flames +through damp atmosphere, just as the harvest-moon looks red when it +rises. + +And the strange thing is that in all these cases the likeness to the +unlike, and much less bright, colour is given with an air of conferring +the highest compliment on the flower in question. It is as if, wishing +to praise some flower of a beautiful blue, one called it a brilliant +slate-roof blue. This sounds absurd, because it is unfamiliar, but the +unsuitability of the comparison is scarcely greater than in the examples +just quoted. + +It seems most reasonable in describing the colour of flowers to look out +for substances whose normal colour shows but little variation--such, for +example, as sulphur. The colour of sulphur is nearly always the same. +Citron, lemon, and canary are useful colour-names, indicating different +strengths of pure pale yellow, inclining towards a tinge of the palest +green. Gentian-blue is a useful word, bringing to mind the piercingly +powerful hue of the Gentianella. So also is turquoise-blue, for the +stone has little variety of shade, and the colour is always of the same +type. Forget-me-not blue is also a good word, meaning the colour of the +native water Forget-me-not. Sky-blue is a little vague, though it has +come by the "crystallising" force of usage to stand for a blue rather +pale than full, and not far from that of the Forget-me-not; indeed, I +seem to remember written passages in which the colours of flower and +firmament were used reciprocally, the one in describing the other. +Cobalt is a word sometimes used, but more often misused, for only +water-colour painters know just what it represents, and it is of little +use, as it so rarely occurs among flowers. + +Crimson is a word to beware of; it covers such a wide extent of ground, +and is used so carelessly in plant-catalogues, that one cannot know +whether it stands for a rich blood colour or for a malignant magenta. +For the latter class of colour the term amaranth, so generally used in +French plant-lists, is extremely useful, both as a definition and a +warning. Salmon is an excellent colour-word, copper is also useful, the +two covering a limited range of beautiful colouring of the utmost value. +Blood-red is also accurately descriptive. Terra-cotta is useful but +indefinite, as it may mean anything between brick-red and buff. +Red-lead, if it would be accepted as a colour-word, would be useful, +denoting the shades of colour between the strongest orange and the +palest scarlet, frequent in the lightest of the Oriental Poppies. Amber +is a misleading word, for who is to know when it means the transparent +amber, whose colour approaches that of resin, or the pale, almost +opaque, dull-yellow kind. And what is meant by coral-red? It is the red +of the old-fashioned dull-scarlet coral, or of the pink kind more +recently in favour. + +The terms bronze and smoke may well be used in their place, as in +describing or attempting to describe the wonderful colouring of such +flowers as Spanish Iris, and the varieties of Iris of the _squalens_ +section. But often in describing a flower a reference to texture much +helps and strengthens the colour-word. I have often described the modest +little _Iris tuberosa_ as a flower made of green satin and black velvet. +The green portion is only slightly green, but is entirely green satin, +and the black of the velvet is barely black, but is quite +black-velvet-like. The texture of the flower of _Ornithogalum nutans_ is +silver satin, neither very silvery nor very satin-like, and yet so +nearly suggesting the texture of both that the words may well be used in +speaking of it. Indeed, texture plays so important a part in the +appearance of colour-surface, that one can hardly think of colour +without also thinking of texture. A piece of black satin and a piece of +black velvet may be woven of the same batch of material, but when the +satin is finished and the velvet cut, the appearance is often so +dissimilar that they may look quite different in colour. A working +painter is never happy if you give him an oil-colour pattern to match in +distemper; he must have it of the same texture, or he will not undertake +to get it like. + +What a wonderful range of colouring there is in black alone to a trained +colour-eye! There is the dull brown-black of soot, and the velvety +brown-black of the bean-flower's blotch; to my own eye, I have never +found anything so entirely black in a natural product as the patch on +the lower petals of _Iris iberica_. Is it not Ruskin who says of +Velasquez, that there is more colour in his black than in many another +painter's whole palette? The blotch of the bean-flower appears black at +first, till you look at it close in the sunlight, and then you see its +rich velvety texture, so nearly like some of the brown-velvet markings +on butterflies' wings. And the same kind of rich colour and texture +occurs again on some of the tough flat half-round funguses, marked with +shaded rings, that grow out of old posts, and that I always enjoy as +lessons of lovely colour-harmony of grey and brown and black. + +Much to be regretted is the disuse of the old word murrey, now only +employed in heraldry. It stands for a dull red-purple, such as appears +in the flower of the Virginian Allspice, and in the native +Hound's-tongue, and often in seedling Auriculas. A fine strong-growing +border Auricula was given to me by my valued friend the Curator of the +Trinity College Botanic Garden, Dublin, to which he had given the +excellently descriptive name, "Old Murrey." + +Sage-green is a good colour-word, for, winter or summer, the sage-leaves +change but little. Olive-green is not so clear, though it has come by +use to stand for a brownish green, like the glass of a wine-bottle held +up to the light, but perhaps bottle-green is the better word. And it is +not clear what part or condition of the olive is meant, for the ripe +fruit is nearly black, and the tree in general, and the leaf in detail, +are of a cool-grey colour. Perhaps the colour-word is taken from the +colour of the unripe fruit pickled in brine, as we see them on the +table. Grass-green any one may understand, but I am always puzzled by +apple-green. Apples are of so many different greens, to say nothing of +red and yellow; and as for pea-green, I have no idea what it means. + +I notice in plant-lists the most reckless and indiscriminate use of the +words purple, violet, mauve, lilac, and lavender, and as they are all +related, I think they should be used with the greater caution. I should +say that mauve and lilac cover the same ground; the word mauve came into +use within my recollection. It is French for mallow, and the flower of +the wild plant may stand as the type of what the word means. Lavender +stands for a colder or bluer range of pale purples, with an inclination +to grey; it is a useful word, because the whole colour of the flower +spike varies so little. Violet stands for the dark garden violet, and I +always think of the grand colour of _Iris reticulata_ as an example of a +rich violet-purple. But purple equally stands for this, and for many +shades redder. + +Snow-white is very vague. There is nearly always so much blue about the +colour of snow, from its crystalline surface and partial transparency, +and the texture is so unlike that of any kind of flower, that the +comparison is scarcely permissible. I take it that the use of +"snow-white" is, like that of "golden-yellow," more symbolical than +descriptive, meaning any white that gives an impression of purity. +Nearly all white flowers are yellowish-white, and the comparatively few +that are bluish-white, such, for example, as _Omphalodes verna_, are of +a texture so different from snow that one cannot compare them at all. I +should say that most white flowers are near the colour of chalk; for +although the word chalky-white has been used in rather a contemptuous +way, the colour is really a very beautiful warm white, but by no means +an intense white. The flower that always looks to me the whitest is that +of _Iberis sempervirens_. The white is dead and hard, like a piece of +glazed stoneware, quite without play or variation, and hence +uninteresting. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE SCENTS OF THE GARDEN + + +The sweet scents of a garden are by no means the least of its many +delights. Even January brings _Chimonanthus fragrans_, one of the +sweetest and strongest scented of the year's blooms--little +half-transparent yellowish bells on an otherwise naked-looking wall +shrub. They have no stalks, but if they are floated in a shallow dish of +water, they last well for several days, and give off a powerful +fragrance in a room. + +During some of the warm days that nearly always come towards the end of +February, if one knows where to look in some sunny, sheltered corner of +a hazel copse, there will be sure to be some Primroses, and the first +scent of the year's first Primrose is no small pleasure. The garden +Primroses soon follow, and, meanwhile, in all open winter weather there +have been Czar Violets and _Iris stylosa_, with its delicate scent, +faintly violet-like, but with a dash of tulip. _Iris reticulata_ is also +sweet, with a still stronger perfume of the violet character. But of all +Irises I know, the sweetest to smell is a later blooming one, _I. +graminea_. Its small purple flowers are almost hidden among the thick +mass of grassy foliage which rises high above the bloom; but they are +worth looking for, for the sake of the sweet and rather penetrating +scent, which is exactly like that of a perfectly-ripened plum. + +All the scented flowers of the Primrose tribe are delightful--Primrose, +Polyanthus, Auricula, Cowslip. The actual sweetness is most apparent in +the Cowslip; in the Auricula it has a pungency, and at the same time a +kind of veiled mystery, that accords with the clouded and +curiously-blended colourings of many of the flowers. + +Sweetbriar is one of the strongest of the year's early scents, and +closely following is the woodland incense of the Larch, both freely +given off and far-wafted, as is also that of the hardy Daphnes. The +first quarter of the year also brings the bloom of most of the deciduous +Magnolias, all with a fragrance nearly allied to that of the large one +that blooms late in summer, but not so strong and heavy. + +The sweetness of a sun-baked bank of Wallflower belongs to April. +Daffodils, lovely as they are, must be classed among flowers of rather +rank smell, and yet it is welcome, for it means spring-time, with its +own charm and its glad promise of the wealth of summer bloom that is +soon to come. The scent of the Jonquil, Poeticus, and Polyanthus +sections are best, Jonquil perhaps best of all, for it is without the +rather coarse scent of the Trumpets and Nonsuch, and also escapes the +penetrating lusciousness of _poeticus_ and _tazetta_, which in the +south of Europe is exaggerated in the case of _tazetta_ into something +distinctly unpleasant. + +What a delicate refinement there is in the scent of the wild +Wood-Violet; it is never overdone. It seems to me to be quite the best +of all the violet-scents, just because of its temperate quality. It +gives exactly enough, and never that perhaps-just-a-trifle-too-much that +may often be noticed about a bunch of frame-Violets, and that also in +the south is intensified to a degree that is distinctly undesirable. For +just as colour may be strengthened to a painful glare, and sound may be +magnified to a torture, so even a sweet scent may pass its appointed +bounds and become an overpoweringly evil smell. Even in England several +of the Lilies, whose smell is delicious in open-air wafts, cannot be +borne in a room. In the south of Europe a Tuberose cannot be brought +indoors, and even at home I remember one warm wet August how a plant of +Balm of Gilead (_Cedronella triphylla_) had its always powerful but +usually agreeably aromatic smell so much exaggerated that it smelt +exactly like coal-gas! A brother in Jamaica writes of the large white +Jasmine: "It does not do to bring it indoors here; the scent is too +strong. One day I thought there was a dead rat under the floor (a thing +which did happen once), and behold, it was a glassful of fresh white +Jasmine that was the offender!" + +While on this less pleasant part of the subject, I cannot help thinking +of the horrible smell of the Dragon Arum; and yet how fitting an +accompaniment it is to the plant, for if ever there was a plant that +looked wicked and repellent, it is this; and yet, like Medusa, it has +its own kind of fearful beauty. In this family the smell seems to +accompany the appearance, and to diminish in unpleasantness as the +flower increases in amiability; for in our native wild Arum the smell, +though not exactly nice, is quite innocuous, and in the beautiful white +Arum or _Calla_ of our greenhouses there is as little scent as a flower +can well have, especially one of such large dimensions. In Fungi the bad +smell is nearly always an indication of poisonous nature, so that it +would seem to be given as a warning. But it has always been a matter of +wonder to me why the root of the harmless and friendly Laurustinus +should have been given a particularly odious smell--a smell I would +rather not attempt to describe. On moist warmish days in mid-seasons I +have sometimes had a whiff of the same unpleasantness from the bushes +themselves; others of the same tribe have it in a much lesser degree. +There is a curious smell about the yellow roots of Berberis, not exactly +nasty, and a strong odour, not really offensive, but that I personally +dislike, about the root of _Chrysanthemum maximum_. On the other hand, I +always enjoy digging up, dividing, and replanting the _Asarums_, both +the common European and the American kinds; their roots have a pleasant +and most interesting smell, a good deal like mild pepper and ginger +mixed, but more strongly aromatic. The same class of smell, but much +fainter, and always reminding me of very good and delicate pepper, I +enjoy in the flowers of the perennial Lupines. The only other hardy +flowers I can think of whose smell is distinctly offensive are _Lilium +pyrenaicum_, smelling like a mangy dog, and some of the _Schizanthus_, +that are redolent of dirty hen-house. + +There is a class of scent that, though it can neither be called sweet +nor aromatic, is decidedly pleasing and interesting. Such is that of +Bracken and other Fern-fronds, Ivy-leaves, Box-bushes, Vine-blossom, +Elder-flowers, and Fig-leaves. There are the sweet scents that are +wholly delightful--most of the Roses, Honeysuckle, Primrose, Cowslip, +Mignonette, Pink, Carnation, Heliotrope, Lily of the Valley, and a host +of others; then there is a class of scent that is intensely powerful, +and gives an impression almost of intemperance or voluptuousness, such +as Magnolia, Tuberose, Gardenia, Stephanotis, and Jasmine; it is strange +that these all have white flowers of thick leathery texture. In +strongest contrast to these are the sweet, wholesome, wind-wafted scents +of clover-field, of bean-field, and of new-mown hay, and the soft +honey-scent of sun-baked heather, and of a buttercup meadow in April. +Still more delicious is the wind-swept sweetness of a wood of Larch or +of Scotch Fir, and the delicate perfume of young-leaved Birch, or the +heavier scent of the flowering Lime. Out on the moorlands, besides the +sweet heather-scent, is that of flowering Broom and Gorse and of the +Bracken, so like the first smell of the sea as you come near it after a +long absence. + +How curiously scents of flowers and leaves fall into classes--often one +comes upon related smells running into one another in not necessarily +related plants. There is a kind of scent that I sometimes meet with, +about clumps of Brambles, a little like the waft of a Fir wood; it +occurs again (quite naturally) in the first taste of blackberry jam, and +then turns up again in Sweet Sultan. It is allied to the smell of the +dying Strawberry leaves. + +The smell of the Primrose occurs again in a much stronger and ranker +form in the root-stock, and the same thing happens with the Violets and +Pansies; in Violets the plant-smell is pleasant, though without the high +perfume of the flower; but the smell of an overgrown bed of Pansy-plants +is rank to offensiveness. + +Perhaps the most delightful of all flower scents are those whose tender +and delicate quality makes one wish for just a little more. Such a scent +is that of Apple-blossom, and of some small Pansies, and of the wild +Rose and the Honeysuckle. Among Roses alone the variety and degree of +sweet scent seems almost infinite. To me the sweetest of all is the +Provence, the old Cabbage Rose of our gardens. When something +approaching this appears, as it frequently does, among the hybrid +perpetuals, I always greet it as the real sweet Rose smell. One expects +every Rose to be fragrant, and it is a disappointment to find that such +a beautiful flower as Baroness Rothschild is wanting in the sweet scent +that would be the fitting complement of its incomparable form, and to +perceive in so handsome a Rose as Malmaison a heavy smell of decidedly +bad quality. But such cases are not frequent. + +There is much variety in the scent of the Tea-Roses, the actual tea +flavour being strongest in the Dijon class. Some have a powerful scent +that is very near that of a ripe Nectarine; of this the best example I +know is the old rose Goubault. The half-double red Gloire de Rosamene +has a delightful scent of a kind that is rare among Roses. It has a good +deal of the quality of that mysterious and delicious smell given off by +the dying strawberry leaves, aromatic, pungent, and delicately refined, +searching and powerful, and yet subtle and elusive--the best sweet smell +of all the year. One cannot have it for the seeking; it comes as it +will--a scent that is sad as a forecast of the inevitable certainty of +the flower-year's waning, and yet sweet with the promise of its timely +new birth. + +Sometimes I have met with a scent of somewhat the same mysterious and +aromatic kind when passing near a bank clothed with the great St. John's +Wort. As this also occurs in early autumn, I suppose it to be occasioned +by the decay of some of the leaves. And there is a small yellow-flowered +Potentilla that has a scent of the same character, but always freely and +willingly given off--a humble-looking little plant, well worth growing +for its sweetness, that much to my regret I have lost. + +I observe that when a Rose exists in both single and double form the +scent is increased in the double beyond the proportion that one would +expect. _Rosa lucida_ in the ordinary single state has only a very +slight scent; in the lovely double form it is very sweet, and has +acquired somewhat of the Moss-rose smell. The wild Burnet-rose (_R. +spinosissima_) has very little smell; but the Scotch Briars, its garden +relatives, have quite a powerful fragrance, a pale flesh-pink kind, +whose flowers are very round and globe-like, being the sweetest of all. + +But of all the sweet scents of bush or flower, the ones that give me the +greatest pleasure are those of the aromatic class, where they seem to +have a wholesome resinous or balsamic base, with a delicate perfume +added. When I pick and crush in my hand a twig of Bay, or brush against +a bush of Rosemary, or tread upon a tuft of Thyme, or pass through +incense-laden brakes of Cistus, I feel that here is all that is best and +purest and most refined, and nearest to poetry, in the range of faculty +of the sense of smell. + +The scents of all these sweet shrubs, many of them at home in dry and +rocky places in far-away lower latitudes, recall in a way far more +distinct than can be done by a mere mental effort of recollection, +rambles of years ago in many a lovely southern land--in the islands of +the Greek Archipelago, beautiful in form, and from a distance looking +bare and arid, and yet with a scattered growth of lowly, sweet-smelling +bush and herb, so that as you move among them every plant seems full of +sweet sap or aromatic gum, and as you tread the perfumed carpet the +whole air is scented; then of dusky groves of tall Cypress and Myrtle, +forming mysterious shadowy woodland temples that unceasingly offer up an +incense of their own surpassing fragrance, and of cooler hollows in the +same lands and in the nearer Orient, where the Oleander grows like the +willow of the north, and where the Sweet Bay throws up great tree-like +suckers of surprising strength and vigour. It is only when one has seen +it grow like this that one can appreciate the full force of the old +Bible simile. Then to find oneself standing (while still on earth) in a +grove of giant Myrtles fifteen feet high is like having a little chink +of the door of heaven opened, as if to show a momentary glimpse of what +good things may be beyond! + +Among the sweet shrubs from the nearer of these southern regions, one of +the best for English gardens is _Cistus laurifolius_. Its wholesome, +aromatic sweetness is freely given off, even in winter. In this, as in +its near relative, _C. ladaniferus_, the scent seems to come from the +gummy surface, and not from the body of the leaf. _Caryopteris +Mastacanthus_, the Mastic plant, from China, one of the few shrubs that +flower in autumn, has strongly-scented woolly leaves, something like +turpentine, but more refined. _Ledum palustre_ has a delightful scent +when its leaves are bruised. The wild Bog-myrtle, so common in Scotland, +has almost the sweetness of the true Myrtle, as has also the +broad-leaved North American kind, and the Candleberry Gale (_Comptonia +asplenifolia_) from the same country. The myrtle-leaved Rhododendron is +a dwarf shrub of neat habit, whose bruised leaves have also a +myrtle-like smell, though it is less strong than in the Gales. I wonder +why the leaves of nearly all the hardy aromatic shrubs are of a hard, +dry texture; the exceptions are so few that it seems to be a law. + +If my copse were some acres larger I should like nothing better than to +make a good-sized clearing, laying out to the sun, and to plant it with +these aromatic bushes and herbs. The main planting should be of Cistus +and Rosemary and Lavender, and for the shadier edges the Myrtle-leaved +Rhododendron, and _Ledum palustre_, and the three Bog-myrtles. Then +again in the sun would be Hyssop and Catmint, and Lavender-cotton and +Southernwood, with others of the scented Artemisias, and Sage and +Marjoram. All the ground would be carpeted with Thyme and Basil and +others of the dwarfer sweet-herbs. There would be no regular paths, but +it would be so planted that in most parts one would have to brush up +against the sweet bushes, and sometimes push through them, as one does +on the thinner-clothed of the mountain slopes of southern Italy. + +Among the many wonders of the vegetable world are the flowers that hang +their heads and seem to sleep in the daytime, and that awaken as the sun +goes down, and live their waking life at night. And those that are most +familiar in our gardens have powerful perfumes, except the Evening +Primrose (_Oenothera_), which has only a milder sweetness. It is vain to +try and smell the night-given scent in the daytime; it is either +withheld altogether, or some other smell, quite different, and not +always pleasant, is there instead. I have tried hard in daytime to get a +whiff of the night sweetness of _Nicotiana affinis_, but can only get +hold of something that smells like a horse! Some of the best of the +night-scents are those given by the Stocks and Rockets. They are sweet +in the hand in the daytime, but the best of the sweet scent seems to be +like a thin film on the surface. It does not do to smell them too +vigorously, for, especially in Stocks and Wallflowers, there is a +strong, rank, cabbage-like under-smell. But in the sweetness given off +so freely in the summer evening there is none of this; then they only +give their very best. + +But of all the family, the finest fragrance comes from the small annual +Night-scented Stock (_Matthiola bicornis_), a plant that in daytime is +almost ugly; for the leaves are of a dull-grey colour, and the flowers +are small and also dull-coloured, and they are closed and droop and look +unhappy. But when the sun has set the modest little plant seems to come +to life; the grey foliage is almost beautiful in its harmonious relation +to the half-light; the flowers stand up and expand, and in the early +twilight show tender colouring of faint pink and lilac, and pour out +upon the still night-air a lavish gift of sweetest fragrance; and the +modest little plant that in strong sunlight looked unworthy of a place +in the garden, now rises to its appointed rank and reigns supreme as its +prime delight. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE WORSHIP OF FALSE GODS + + +Several times during these notes I have spoken in a disparaging manner +of the show-table; and I have not done so lightly, but with all the care +and thought and power of observation that my limited capacity is worth; +and, broadly, I have come to this: that shows, such as those at the +fortnightly meetings of the Royal Horticultural Society, and their more +important one in the early summer, whose object is to bring together +beautiful flowers of all kinds, to a place where they may be seen, are +of the utmost value; and that any shows anywhere for a like purpose, and +especially where there are no money prizes, are also sure to be helpful. +And the test question I put to myself at any show is this, Does this +really help the best interests of horticulture? And as far as I can see +that it does this, I think the show right and helpful; and whenever it +does not, I think it harmful and misleading. + +The love of gardening has so greatly grown and spread within the last +few years, that the need of really good and beautiful garden flowers is +already far in advance of the demand for the so-called "florists" +flowers, by which I mean those that find favour in the exclusive shows +of Societies for the growing and exhibition of such flowers as Tulips, +Carnations, Dahlias, and Chrysanthemums. In support of this I should +like to know what proportion of demand there is, in Dahlias, for +instance, between the show kinds, whose aim and object is the +show-table, and the decorative kinds, that are indisputably better for +garden use. Looking at the catalogue of a leading Dahlia nursery, I find +that the decorative kinds fill ten pages, while the show kinds, +including Pompones, fill only three. Is not this some indication of what +is wanted in gardens? + +I am of opinion that the show-table is unworthily used when its object +is to be an end in itself, and that it should be only a means to a +better end, and that when it exhibits what has become merely a "fancy," +it loses sight of its honourable position as a trustworthy exponent of +horticulture, and has degenerated to a baser use. When, as in +Chrysanthemum shows, the flowers on the board are of _no use anywhere +but on that board_, and for the purpose of gaining a money prize, I hold +that the show-table has a debased aim, and a debasing influence. Beauty, +in all the best sense, is put aside in favour of set rules and +measurements, and the production of a thing that is of no use or value; +and individuals of a race of plants capable of producing the highest and +most delightful forms of beauty, and of brightening our homes, and even +gardens, during the dim days of early winter, are teased and tortured +and fatted and bloated into ugly and useless monstrosities for no +purpose but to gain money. And when private gardeners go to these shows +and see how the prizes are awarded, and how all the glory is accorded to +the first-prize bloated monster, can we wonder that the effect on their +minds is confusing, if not absolutely harmful? + +Shows of Carnations and Pansies, where the older rules prevail, are +equally misleading, where the single flowers are arrayed in a flat +circle of paper. As with the Chrysanthemum, every sort of trickery is +allowed in arranging the petals of the Carnation blooms: petals are +pulled out or stuck in, and they are twisted about, and groomed and +combed, and manipulated with special tools--"dressed," as the show-word +has it--dressed so elaborately that the dressing only stops short of +applying actual paint and perfumery. Already in the case of Carnations a +better influence is being felt, and at the London shows there are now +classes for border Carnations set up in long-stalked bunches just as +they grow. It is only like this that their value as outdoor plants can +be tested; for many of the show sorts have miserably weak stalks, and a +very poor, lanky habit of growth. + +Then the poor Pansies have single blooms laid flat on white papers, and +are only approved if they will lie quite flat and show an outline of a +perfect circle. All that is most beautiful in a Pansy, the wing-like +curves, the waved or slightly fluted radiations, the scarcely +perceptible undulation of surface that displays to perfection the +admirable delicacy of velvety texture; all the little tender tricks and +ways that make the Pansy one of the best-loved of garden flowers; all +this is overlooked, and not only passively overlooked, but overtly +contemned. The show-pansy judge appears to have no eye, or brain, or +heart, but to have in their place a pair of compasses with which to +describe a circle! All idea of garden delight seems to be excluded, as +this kind of judging appeals to no recognition of beauty for beauty's +sake, but to hard systems of measurement and rigid arrangement and +computation that one would think more applicable to astronomy or +geometry than to any matter relating to horticulture. + +I do most strongly urge that beauty of the highest class should be the +aim, and not anything of the nature of fashion or "fancy," and that +every effort should be made towards the raising rather than the lowering +of the standard of taste. + +The Societies which exist throughout the country are well organised; +many have existed for a great number of years; they are the local +sources of horticultural education, to which large circles of people +naturally look for guidance; and though they produce--and especially the +Rose shows--quantities of beautiful things, it cannot but be perceived +by all who have had the benefit of some refinement of education, that +in very many cases they either deliberately teach, or at any rate allow +to be seen with their sanction, what cannot fail to be debasing to +public taste. + +I will just take two examples to show how obvious methods of leading +taste are not only overlooked, but even perverted; for it is not only in +the individual blooms that much of the show-teaching is unworthy, but +also in the training of the plants; so that a plant that by nature has +some beauty of form, is not encouraged or even allowed to develop that +beauty, but is trained into some shape that is not only foreign to its +own nature, but is absolutely ugly and ungraceful, and entirely stupid. +The natural habit of the Chrysanthemum is to grow in the form of several +upright stems. They spring up sheaf-wise, straight upright for a time, +and only bending a little outwards above, to give room for the branching +heads of bloom. The stems are rather stiff, because they are half woody +at the base. In the case of pot-plants it would seem right only so far +to stake or train them as to give the necessary support by a few sticks +set a little outwards at the top, so that each stem may lean a little +over, after the manner of a Bamboo, when their clustered heads of flower +would be given enough room, and be seen to the greatest advantage. + +But at shows, the triumph of the training art seems to be to drag the +poor thing round and round over an internal scaffolding of sticks, with +an infinite number of ties and cross-braces, so that it makes a sort of +shapeless ball, and to arrange the flowers so that they are equally +spotted all over it, by tying back some almost to snapping-point, and by +dragging forward others to the verge of dislocation. I have never seen +anything so ugly in the way of potted plants as a certain kind of +Chrysanthemum that has incurved flowers of a heavy sort of dull +leaden-looking red-purple colour trained in this manner. Such a sight +gives me a feeling of shame, not unmixed with wrathful indignation. I +ask myself, What is it for? and I get no answer. I ask a practical +gardener what it is for, and he says, "Oh, it is one of the ways they +are trained for shows." I ask him, Does he think it pretty, or is it any +use? and he says, "Well, they think it makes a nice variety;" and when I +press him further, and say I consider it a very nasty variety, and does +he think nasty varieties are better than none, the question is beyond +him, and he smiles vaguely and edges away, evidently thinking my +conversation perplexing, and my company undesirable. I look again at the +unhappy plant, and see its poor leaves fat with an unwholesome obesity, +and seeming to say, We were really a good bit mildewed, but have been +doctored up for the show by being crammed and stuffed with artificial +aliment! + +My second example is that of _Azalea indica_. What is prettier in a room +than one of these in its little tree form, a true tree, with tiny trunk +and wide-spreading branches, and its absurdly large and lovely flowers? +Surely it is the most perfect room ornament that we can have in tree +shape in a moderate-sized pot; and where else can one see a tree loaded +with lovely bloom whose individual flowers have a diameter equal to five +times that of the trunk? + +But the show decrees that all this is wrong, and that the tiny, brittle +branches must be trained stiffly round till the shape of the plant shows +as a sort of cylinder. Again I ask myself, What is this for? What does +it teach? Can it be really to teach with deliberate intention that +instead of displaying its natural and graceful tree form it should aim +at a more desirable kind of beauty, such as that of the chimney-pot or +drain-pipe, and that this is so important that it is right and laudable +to devote to it much time and delicate workmanship? + +I cannot but think, as well as hope, that the strong influences for good +that are now being brought to bear on all departments of gardening may +reach this class of show, for there are already more hopeful signs in +the admission of classes for groups arranged for decoration. + +The prize-show system no doubt creates its own evils, because the +judges, and those who frame the schedules, have been in most cases men +who have a knowledge of flowers, but who are not people of cultivated +taste, and in deciding what points are to constitute the merits of a +flower they have to take such qualities as are within the clearest +understanding of people of average intelligence and average +education--such, for instance, as size that can be measured, symmetry +that can be easily estimated, thickness of petal that can be felt, and +such qualities of colour as appeal most strongly to the uneducated eye; +so that a flower may possess features or qualities that endow it with +the highest beauty, but that exclude it, because the hard and narrow +limits of the show-laws provide no means of dealing with it. It is, +therefore, thrown out, not because they have any fault to find with it, +but because it does not concern them; and the ordinary gardener, to +whose practice it might be of the highest value, accepting the verdict +of the show-judge as an infallible guide, also treats it with contempt +and neglect. + +Now, all this would not so much matter if it did not delude those whose +taste is not sufficiently educated to enable them to form an opinion of +their own in accordance with the best and truest standards of beauty; +for I venture to repeat that what we have to look for for the benefit of +our gardens, and for our own bettering and increase of happiness in +those gardens, are things that are beautiful, rather than things that +are round, or straight, or thick, still less than for those that are +new, or curious, or astonishing. For all these false gods are among us, +and many are they who are willing to worship. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +NOVELTY AND VARIETY + + +When I look back over thirty years of gardening, I see what an +extraordinary progress there has been, not only in the introduction of +good plants new to general cultivation, but also in the home production +of improved kinds of old favourites. In annual plants alone there has +been a remarkable advance. And here again, though many really beautiful +things are being brought forward, there seems always to be an undue +value assigned to a fresh development, on the score of its novelty. + +Now it seems to me, that among the thousands of beautiful things already +at hand for garden use, there is no merit whatever in novelty or variety +unless the thing new or different is distinctly more beautiful, or in +some such way better than an older thing of the same class. + +And there seems to be a general wish among seed growers just now to +dwarf all annual plants. Now, when a plant is naturally of a diffuse +habit, the fixing of a dwarfer variety may be a distinct gain to +horticulture--it may just make a good garden plant out of one that was +formerly of indifferent quality; but there seems to me to be a kind of +stupidity in inferring from this that all annuals are the better for +dwarfing. I take it that the bedding system has had a good deal to do +with it. It no doubt enables ignorant gardeners to use a larger variety +of plants as senseless colour-masses, but it is obvious that many, if +not most, of the plants are individually made much uglier by the +process. Take, for example, one of the dwarfest Ageratums: what a silly +little dumpy, formless, pincushion of a thing it is! And then the +dwarfest of the China Asters. Here is a plant (whose chief weakness +already lies in a certain over-stiffness) made stiffer and more +shapeless still by dwarfing and by cramming with too many petals. The +Comet Asters of later years are a much-improved type of flower, with a +looser shape and a certain degree of approach to grace and beauty. When +this kind came out it was a noteworthy novelty, not because it was a +novelty, but because it was a better and more beautiful thing. Also +among the same Asters the introduction of a better class of red +colouring, first of the blood-red and then of the so-called scarlet +shades, was a good variety, because it was the distinct bettering of the +colour of a popular race of garden-flowers, whose red and pink +colourings had hitherto been of a bad and rank quality. + +It is quite true that here and there the dwarf kind is a distinctly +useful thing, as in the dwarf Nasturtiums. In this grand plant one is +glad to have dwarf ones as well as the old trailing kinds. I even +confess to a certain liking for the podgy little dwarf Snapdragons; they +are ungraceful little dumpy things, but they happen to have come in some +tender colourings of pale yellow and pale pink, that give them a kind of +absurd prettiness, and a certain garden-value. I also look at them as a +little floral joke that is harmless and not displeasing, but they cannot +for a moment compare in beauty with the free-growing Snapdragon of the +older type. This I always think one of the best and most interesting and +admirable of garden-plants. Its beauty is lost if it is crowded up among +other things in a border; it should be grown in a dry wall or steep +rocky bank, where its handsome bushy growth and finely-poised spikes of +bloom can be well seen. + +[Illustration: TALL SNAPDRAGONS GROWING IN A DRY WALL.] + +[Illustration: MULLEINS GROWING IN THE FACE OF DRY WALL. (_See "Old +Wall," page 116._)] + +One of the annuals that I think is entirely spoilt by dwarfing is +Love-in-a-Mist, a plant I hold in high admiration. Many years ago I came +upon some of it in a small garden, of a type that I thought extremely +desirable, with a double flower of just the right degree of fulness, and +of an unusually fine colour. I was fortunate enough to get some seed, +and have never grown any other, nor have I ever seen elsewhere any that +I think can compare with it. + +The Zinnia is another fine annual that has been much spoilt by its +would-be improvers. When a Zinnia has a hard, stiff, tall flower, with a +great many rows of petals piled up one on top of another, and when its +habit is dwarfed to a mean degree of squatness, it looks to me both ugly +and absurd, whereas a reasonably double one, well branched, and two feet +high, is a handsome plant. + +I also think that Stocks and Wallflowers are much handsomer when rather +tall and branching. Dwarf Stocks, moreover, are invariably spattered +with soil in heavy autumn rain. + +An example of the improver not knowing where to stop in the matter of +colouring, always strikes me in the Gaillardias, and more especially in +the perennial kind, that is increased by division as well as by seed. +The flower is naturally of a strong orange-yellow colour, with a narrow +ring of red round the centre. The improver has sought to increase the +width of the red ring. Up to a certain point it makes a livelier and +brighter-looking flower; but he has gone too far, and extended the red +till it has become a red flower with a narrow yellow edge. The red also +is of a rather dull and heavy nature, so that instead of a handsome +yellow flower with a broad central ring, here is an ugly red one with a +yellow border. There is no positive harm done, as the plant has been +propagated at every stage of development, and one may choose what one +will; but to see them together is an instructive lesson. + +No annual plant has of late years been so much improved as the Sweet +Pea, and one reason why its charming beauty and scent are so enjoyable +is, that they grow tall, and can be seen on a level with the eye. There +can be no excuse whatever for dwarfing this, as has lately been done. +There are already plenty of good flowering plants under a foot high, and +the little dwarf white monstrosity, now being followed by coloured ones +of the same habit, seems to me worthy of nothing but condemnation. It +would be as right and sensible to dwarf a Hollyhock into a podgy mass a +foot high, or a Pentstemon, or a Foxglove. Happily these have as yet +escaped dwarfing, though I regret to see that a deformity that not +unfrequently appears among garden Foxgloves, looking like a bell-shaped +flower topping a stunted spike, appears to have been "fixed," and is +being offered as a "novelty." Here is one of the clearest examples of a +new development which is a distinct debasement of a naturally beautiful +form, but which is nevertheless being pushed forward in trade: it has no +merit whatever in itself, and is only likely to sell because it is new +and curious. + +And all this parade of distortion and deformity comes about from the +grower losing sight of beauty as the first consideration, or from his +not having the knowledge that would enable him to determine what are the +points of character in various plants most deserving of development, and +in not knowing when or where to stop. Abnormal size, whether greatly +above or much below the average, appeals to the vulgar and uneducated +eye, and will always command its attention and wonderment. But then the +production of the immense size that provokes astonishment, and the +misapplied ingenuity that produces unusual dwarfing, are neither of them +very high aims. + +And much as I feel grateful to those who improve garden flowers, I +venture to repeat my strong conviction that their efforts in selection +and other methods should be so directed as to keep in view the +attainment of beauty in the first place, and as a point of honour; not +to mere increase of size of bloom or compactness of habit--many plants +have been spoilt by excess of both; not for variety or novelty as ends +in themselves, but only to welcome them, and offer them, if they are +distinctly of garden value in the best sense. For if plants are grown or +advertised or otherwise pushed on any other account than that of their +possessing some worthy form of beauty, they become of the same nature as +any other article in trade that is got up for sale for the sole benefit +of the seller, that is unduly lauded by advertisement, and that makes +its first appeal to the vulgar eye by an exaggerated and showy pictorial +representation; that will serve no useful purpose, and for which there +is no true or healthy demand. + +No doubt much of it comes about from the unwholesome pressure of trade +competition, which in a way obliges all to follow where some lead. I +trust that my many good friends in the trade will understand that my +remarks are not made in any personal sense whatever. I know that some of +them feel much as I do on some of these points, but that in many ways +they are helpless, being all bound in a kind of bondage to the general +system. And there is one great evil that calls loudly for redress, but +that will endure until some of the mightiest of them have the energy and +courage to band themselves together and to declare that it shall no +longer exist among them. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +WEEDS AND PESTS + + +Weeding is a delightful occupation, especially after summer rain, when +the roots come up clear and clean. One gets to know how many and various +are the ways of weeds--as many almost as the moods of human creatures. +How easy and pleasant to pull up are the soft annuals like Chickweed and +Groundsel, and how one looks with respect at deep-rooted things like +Docks, that make one go and fetch a spade. Comfrey is another thing with +a terrible root, and every bit must be got out, as it will grow again +from the smallest scrap. And hard to get up are the two Bryonies, the +green and the black, with such deep-reaching roots, that, if not weeded +up within their first year, will have to be seriously dug out later. The +white Convolvulus, one of the loveliest of native plants, has a most +persistently running root, of which every joint will quickly form a new +plant. Some of the worst weeds to get out are Goutweed and Coltsfoot. +Though I live on a light soil, comparatively easy to clean, I have done +some gardening in clay, and well know what a despairing job it is to +get the bits of either of these roots out of the stiff clods. + +The most persistent weed in my soil is the small running Sheep's Sorrel. +First it makes a patch, and then sends out thready running roots all +round, a foot or more long; these, if not checked, establish new bases +of operation, and so it goes on, always spreading farther and farther. +When this happens in soft ground that can be hoed and weeded it matters +less, but in the lawn it is a more serious matter. Its presence always +denotes a poor, sandy soil of rather a sour quality. + +Goutweed is a pest in nearly all gardens, and very difficult to get out. +When it runs into the root of some patch of hardy plant, if the plant +can be spared, I find it best to send it at once to the burn-heap; or if +it is too precious, there is nothing for it but to cut it all up and +wash it out, to be sure that not the smallest particle of the enemy +remains. Some weeds are deceiving--Sow-thistle, for instance, which has +the look of promising firm hand-hold and easy extraction, but has a +disappointing way of almost always breaking short off at the collar. But +of all the garden weeds that are native plants I know none so persistent +or so insidious as the Rampion Bell-flower (_Campanula Rapunculus_); it +grows from the smallest thread of root, and it is almost impossible to +see every little bit; for though the main roots are thick, and white, +and fleshy, the fine side roots that run far abroad are very small, and +of a reddish colour, and easily hidden in the brown earth. + +But some of the worst garden-weeds are exotics run wild. The common +Grape Hyacinth sometimes overruns a garden and cannot be got rid of. +_Sambucus ebulis_ is a plant to beware of, its long thong-like roots +spreading far and wide, and coming up again far away from the parent +stock. For this reason it is valuable for planting in such places as +newly-made pond-heads, helping to tie the bank together. _Polygonum +Sieboldi_ must also be planted with caution. The winter Heliotrope +(_Petasites fragrans_) is almost impossible to get out when once it has +taken hold, growing in the same way as its near relative the native +Coltsfoot. + +But by far the most difficult plant to abolish or even keep in check +that I know is _Ornithogalum nutans_. Beautiful as it is, and valuable +as a cut flower, I will not have it in the garden. I think I may venture +to say that in this soil, when once established, it cannot be +eradicated. Each mature bulb makes a host of offsets, and the seed +quickly ripens. When it is once in a garden it will suddenly appear in +all sorts of different places. It is no use trying to dig it out. I have +dug out the whole space of soil containing the patch, a barrow-load at a +time, and sent it to the middle of the burn-heap, and put in fresh soil, +and there it is again next year, nearly as thick as ever. I have dug up +individual small patches with the greatest care, and got out every bulb +and offset, and every bit of the whitish leaf stem, for I have such +faith in its power of reproduction that I think every atom of this is +capable of making a plant, only to find next year a thriving young tuft +of the "grass" in the same place. And yet the bulb and underground stem +are white, and the earth is brown, and I passed it all several times +through my fingers, but all in vain. I confess that it beats me +entirely. + +_Coronilla varia_ is a little plant that appears in catalogues among +desirable Alpines, but is a very "rooty" and troublesome thing, and +scarcely good enough for garden use, though pretty in a grassy bank +where its rambling ways would not be objectionable. I once brought home +from Brittany some roots of _Linaria repens_, that looked charming by a +roadside, and planted them in a bit of Alpine garden, a planting that I +never afterwards ceased to regret. + +I learnt from an old farmer a good way of getting rid of a bed of +nettles--to thrash them down with a stick every time they grow up. If +this is done about three times during the year, the root becomes so much +weakened that it is easily forked out, or if the treatment is gone on +with, the second year the nettles die. Thrashing with a stick is better +than cutting, as it makes the plant bleed more; any mutilation of bruise +or ragged tearing of fibre is more harmful to plant or tree than clean +cutting. + +Of bird, beast, and insect pests we have plenty. First, and worst, are +rabbits. They will gnaw and nibble anything and everything that is +newly planted, even native things like Juniper, Scotch Fir, and Gorse. +The necessity of wiring everything newly planted adds greatly to the +labour and expense of the garden, and the unsightly grey wire-netting is +an unpleasant eyesore. When plants or bushes are well established the +rabbits leave them alone, though some families of plants are always +irresistible--Pinks and Carnations, for instance, and nearly all +Cruciferae, such as Wallflowers, Stocks, and Iberis. The only plants I +know that they do not touch are Rhododendrons and Azaleas; they leave +them for the hare, that is sure to get in every now and then, and who +stands up on his long hind-legs, and will eat Rose-bushes quite high up. + +Plants eaten by a hare look as if they had been cut with a sharp knife; +there is no appearance of gnawing or nibbling, no ragged edges of wood +or frayed bark, but just a straight clean cut. + +Field mice are very troublesome. Some years they will nibble off the +flower-buds of the Lent Hellebores; when they do this they have a +curious way of collecting them and laying them in heaps. I have no idea +why they do this, as they neither carry them away nor eat them +afterwards; there the heaps of buds lie till they rot or dry up. They +once stole all my Auricula seed in the same way. I had marked some good +plants for seed, cutting off all the other flowers as soon as they went +out of bloom. The seed was ripening, and I watched it daily, awaiting +the moment for harvesting. But a few days before it was ready I went +round and found the seed was all gone; it had been cut off at the top of +the stalk, so that the umbel-shaped heads had been taken away whole. I +looked about, and luckily found three slightly hollow places under the +bank at the back of the border where the seed-heads had been piled in +heaps. In this case it looked as if it had been stored for food; luckily +it was near enough to ripeness for me to save my crop. + +The mice are also troublesome with newly-sown Peas, eating some +underground, while sparrows nibble off others when just sprouted; and +when outdoor Grapes are ripening mice run up the walls and eat them. +Even when the Grapes are tied in oiled canvas bags they will eat through +the bags to get at them, though I have never known them to gnaw through +the newspaper bags that I now use in preference, and that ripen the +Grapes as well. I am not sure whether it is mice or birds that pick off +the flowers of the big bunch Primroses, but am inclined to think it is +mice, because the stalks are cut low down. + +Pheasants are very bad gardeners; what they seem to enjoy most are +Crocuses--in fact, it is no use planting them. I had once a nice +collection of Crocus species. They were in separate patches, all along +the edge of one border, in a sheltered part of the garden, where +pheasants did not often come. One day when I came to see my Crocuses, I +found where each patch had been a basin-shaped excavation and a few +fragments of stalk or some part of the plant. They had begun at one end +and worked steadily along, clearing them right out. They also destroyed +a long bed of _Anemone fulgens_. First they took the flowers, and then +the leaves, and lastly pecked up and ate the roots. + +But we have one grand consolation in having no slugs, at least hardly +any that are truly indigenous; they do not like our dry, sandy heaths. +Friends are very generous in sending them with plants, so that we have a +moderate number that hang about frames and pot plants, though nothing +much to boast of; but they never trouble seedlings in the open ground, +and for this I can never be too thankful. + +Alas that the beautiful bullfinch should be so dire an enemy to +fruit-trees, and also the pretty little tits! but so it is; and it is a +sad sight to see a well-grown fruit-tree with all its fruit-buds pecked +out and lying under it on the ground in a thin green carpet. We had some +fine young cherry-trees in a small orchard that we cut down in despair +after they had been growing twelve years. They were too large to net, +and their space could not be spared just for the mischievous fun of the +birds. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE BEDDING FASHION AND ITS INFLUENCE + + +It is curious to look back at the old days of bedding-out, when that and +that only meant gardening to most people, and to remember how the +fashion, beginning in the larger gardens, made its way like a great +inundating wave, submerging the lesser ones, and almost drowning out the +beauties of the many little flowery cottage plots of our English +waysides. And one wonders how it all came about, and why the bedding +system, admirable for its own purpose, should have thus outstepped its +bounds, and have been allowed to run riot among gardens great and small +throughout the land. But so it was, and for many years the fashion, for +it was scarcely anything better, reigned supreme. + +It was well for all real lovers of flowers when some quarter of a +century ago a strong champion of the good old flowers arose, and fought +strenuously to stay the devastating tide, and to restore the healthy +liking for the good old garden flowers. Many soon followed, and now one +may say that all England has flocked to the standard. Bedding as an +all-prevailing fashion is now dead; the old garden-flowers are again +honoured and loved, and every encouragement is freely offered to those +who will improve old kinds and bring forward others. + +And now that bedding as a fashion no longer exists, one can look at it +more quietly and fairly, and see what its uses really are, for in its +own place and way it is undoubtedly useful and desirable. Many great +country-houses are only inhabited in winter, then perhaps for a week or +two at Easter, and in the late summer. There is probably a house-party +at Easter, and a succession of visitors in the late summer. A brilliant +garden, visible from the house, dressed for spring and dressed for early +autumn, is exactly what is wanted--not necessarily from any special love +of flowers, but as a kind of bright and well-kept furnishing of the +immediate environment of the house. The gardener delights in it; it is +all routine work; so many hundreds or thousands of scarlet Geranium, of +yellow Calceolaria, of blue Lobelia, of golden Feverfew, or of other +coloured material. It wants no imagination; the comprehension of it is +within the range of the most limited understanding; indeed its +prevalence for some twenty years or more must have had a deteriorating +influence on the whole class of private gardeners, presenting to them an +ideal so easy of attainment and so cheap of mental effort. + +But bedding, though it is gardening of the least poetical or imaginative +kind, can be done badly or beautifully. In the _parterre_ of the formal +garden it is absolutely in place, and brilliantly-beautiful pictures +can be made by a wise choice of colouring. I once saw, and can never +forget, a bedded garden that was a perfectly satisfying example of +colour-harmony; but then it was planned by the master, a man of the most +refined taste, and not by the gardener. It was a _parterre_ that formed +part of the garden in one of the fine old places in the Midland +counties. I have no distinct recollection of the design, except that +there was some principle of fan-shaped radiation, of which each extreme +angle formed one centre. The whole garden was treated in one harmonious +colouring of full yellow, orange, and orange-brown; half-hardy annuals, +such as French and African Marigolds, Zinnias, and Nasturtiums, being +freely used. It was the most noble treatment of one limited range of +colouring I have ever seen in a garden; brilliant without being garish, +and sumptuously gorgeous without the reproach of gaudiness--a precious +lesson in temperance and restraint in the use of the one colour, and an +admirable exposition of its powerful effect in the hands of a true +artist. + +I think that in many smaller gardens a certain amount of bedding may be +actually desirable; for where the owner of a garden has a special liking +for certain classes or mixtures of plants, or wishes to grow them +thoroughly well and enjoy them individually to the full, he will +naturally grow them in separate beds, or may intentionally combine the +beds, if he will, into some form of good garden effect. But the great +fault of the bedding system when at its height was, that it swept over +the country as a tyrannical fashion, that demanded, and for the time +being succeeded in effecting, the exclusion of better and more +thoughtful kinds of gardening; for I believe I am right in saying that +it spread like an epidemic disease, and raged far and wide for nearly a +quarter of a century. + +Its worst form of all was the "ribbon border," generally a line of +scarlet Geranium at the back, then a line of Calceolaria, then a line of +blue Lobelia, and lastly, a line of the inevitable Golden Feather +Feverfew, or what our gardener used to call Featherfew. Could anything +be more tedious or more stupid? And the ribbon border was at its worst +when its lines were not straight, but waved about in weak and silly +sinuations. + +And when bedding as a fashion was dead, when this false god had been +toppled off his pedestal, and his worshippers had been converted to +better beliefs, in turning and rending him they often went too far, and +did injustice to the innocent by professing a dislike to many a good +plant, and renouncing its use. It was not the fault of the Geranium or +of the Calceolaria that they had been grievously misused and made to +usurp too large a share of our garden spaces. Not once but many a time +my visitors have expressed unbounded surprise when they saw these plants +in my garden, saying, "I should have thought that you would have +despised Geraniums." On the contrary, I love Geraniums. There are no +plants to come near them for pot, or box, or stone basket, or for +massing in any sheltered place in hottest sunshine; and I love their +strangely-pleasant smell, and their beautiful modern colourings of soft +scarlet and salmon-scarlet and salmon-pink, some of these grouping +beautifully together. I have a space in connection with some formal +stonework of steps, and tank, and paved walks, close to the house, on +purpose for the summer placing of large pots of Geranium, with sometimes +a few Cannas and Lilies. For a quarter of the year it is one of the best +things in the garden, and delightful in colour. Then no plant does so +well or looks so suitable in some earthen pots and boxes from Southern +Italy that I always think the best that were ever made, their shape and +well-designed ornament traditional from the Middle Ages, and probably +from an even more remote antiquity. + +[Illustration: GERANIUMS IN NEAPOLITAN POTS.] + +There are, of course, among bedding Geraniums many of a bad, raw quality +of colour, particularly among cold, hard pinks, but there are so many to +choose from that these can easily be avoided. + +I remember some years ago, when the bedding fashion was going out, +reading some rather heated discussions in the gardening papers about +methods of planting out and arranging various tender but indispensable +plants. Some one who had been writing about the errors of the bedding +system wrote about planting some of these in isolated masses. He was +pounced upon by another, who asked, "What is this but bedding?" The +second writer was so far justified, in that it cannot be denied that any +planting in beds is bedding. But then there is bedding and bedding--a +right and a wrong way of applying the treatment. Another matter that +roused the combative spirit of the captious critic was the filling up of +bare spaces in mixed borders with Geraniums, Calceolarias, and other +such plants. Again he said, "What is this but bedding? These are bedding +plants." When I read this it seemed to me that his argument was, These +plants may be very good plants in themselves, but because they have for +some years been used wrongly, therefore they must not now be used +rightly! In the case of my own visitors, when they have expressed +surprise at my having "those horrid old bedding plants" in my garden, it +seemed quite a new view when I pointed out that bedding plants were only +passive agents in their own misuse, and that a Geranium was a Geranium +long before it was a bedding plant! But the discussion raised in my mind +a wish to come to some conclusion about the difference between bedding +in the better and worse sense, in relation to the cases quoted, and it +appeared to me to be merely in the choice between right and wrong +placing--placing monotonously or stupidly, so as merely to fill the +space, or placing with a feeling for "drawing" or proportion. For I had +very soon found out that, if I had a number of things to plant +anywhere, whether only to fill up a border or as a detached group, if I +placed the things myself, carefully exercising what power of +discrimination I might have acquired, it looked fairly right, but that +if I left it to one of my garden people (a thing I rarely do) it looked +all nohow, or like bedding in the worst sense of the word. + +[Illustration: SPACE IN STEP AND TANK-GARDEN FOR LILIES, CANNAS, AND +GERANIUMS.] + +[Illustration: HYDRANGEAS IN TUBS, IN A PART OF THE SAME GARDEN.] + +Even the better ways of gardening do not wholly escape the debasing +influence of fashion. Wild gardening is a delightful, and in good hands +a most desirable, pursuit, but no kind of gardening is so difficult to +do well, or is so full of pitfalls and of paths of peril. Because it has +in some measure become fashionable, and because it is understood to mean +the planting of exotics in wild places, unthinking people rush to the +conclusion that they can put any garden plants into any wild places, and +that that is wild gardening. I have seen woody places that were already +perfect with their own simple charm just muddled and spoilt by a +reckless planting of garden refuse, and heathy hillsides already +sufficiently and beautifully clothed with native vegetation made to look +lamentably silly by the planting of a nurseryman's mixed lot of exotic +Conifers. + +In my own case, I have always devoted the most careful consideration to +any bit of wild gardening I thought of doing, never allowing myself to +decide upon it till I felt thoroughly assured that the place seemed to +ask for the planting in contemplation, and that it would be distinctly a +gain in pictorial value; so there are stretches of Daffodils in one +part of the copse, while another is carpeted with Lily of the Valley. A +cool bank is covered with Gaultheria, and just where I thought they +would look well as little jewels of beauty, are spreading patches of +Trillium and the great yellow Dog-tooth Violet. Besides these there are +only some groups of the Giant Lily. Many other exotic plants could have +been made to grow in the wooded ground, but they did not seem to be +wanted; I thought where the copse looked well and complete in itself it +was better left alone. + +But where the wood joins the garden some bold groups of flowering plants +are allowed, as of Mullein in one part and Foxglove in another; for when +standing in the free part of the garden, it is pleasant to project the +sight far into the wood, and to let the garden influences penetrate here +and there, the better to join the one to the other. + +[Illustration: MULLEIN (VERBASCUM PHLOMOIDES) AT THE EDGE OF THE FIR +WOOD.] + +[Illustration: A GRASS PATH IN THE COPSE.] + +Under the Bracken in both pictures is a wide planting of Lily of the +Valley, flowering in May before the Fern is up. (_See page 61._) + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +MASTERS AND MEN + + +Now that the owners of good places are for the most part taking a +newly-awakened and newly-educated pleasure in the better ways of +gardening, a frequent source of difficulty arises from the ignorance and +obstructiveness of gardeners. The owners have become aware that their +gardens may be sources of the keenest pleasure. The gardener may be an +excellent man, perfectly understanding the ordinary routine of garden +work; he may have been many years in his place; it is his settled home, +and he is getting well on into middle life; but he has no understanding +of the new order of things, and when the master, perfectly understanding +what he is about, desires that certain things shall be done, and wishes +to enjoy the pleasure of directing the work himself, and seeing it grow +under his hand, he resents it as an interference, and becomes +obstructive, or does what is required in a spirit of such sullen +acquiescence that it is equal to open opposition. And I have seen so +many gardens and gardeners that I have come to recognise certain types; +and this one, among men of a certain age, is unfortunately frequent. +Various degrees of ignorance and narrow-mindedness must no doubt be +expected among the class that produces private gardeners. Their general +education is not very wide to begin with, and their training is usually +all in one groove, and the many who possess a full share of vanity get +to think that, because they have exhausted the obvious sources of +experience that have occurred within their reach, there is nothing more +to learn, or to know, or to see, or to feel, or to enjoy. It is in this +that the difficulty lies. The man has no doubt done his best through +life; he has performed his duties well and faithfully, and can render a +good account of his stewardship. It is no fault of his that more means +of enlarging his mind have not been within his grasp, and, to a certain +degree, he may be excused for not understanding that there is anything +beyond; but if he is naturally vain and stubborn his case is hopeless. +If, on the other hand, he is wise enough to know that he does not know +everything, and modest enough to acknowledge it, as do all the greatest +and most learned of men, he will then be eager to receive new and +enlarged impressions, and his willing and intelligent co-operation will +be a new source of interest in life both to himself and his employer, as +well as a fresh spring of vitality in the life of the garden. I am +speaking of the large middle class of private gardeners, not of those of +the highest rank, who have among them men of good education and a large +measure of refinement. From among these I think of the late Mr. Ingram +of the Belvoir Castle gardens, with regret as for a personal friend, and +also as of one who was a true garden artist. + +But most people who have fair-sized gardens have to do with the middle +class of gardener, the man of narrow mental training. The master who, +after a good many years of active life, is looking forward to settling +in his home and improving and enjoying his garden, has had so different +a training, a course of teaching so immeasurably wider and more +enlightening. As a boy he was in a great public school, where, by +wholesome friction with his fellows, he had any petty or personal +nonsense knocked out of him while still in his early "teens." Then he +goes to college, and whether studiously inclined or not, he is already +in the great world, always widening his ideas and experience. Then +perhaps he is in one of the active professions, or engaged in scientific +or intellectual research, or in diplomacy, his ever-expanding +intelligence rubbing up against all that is most enlightened and astute +in men, or most profoundly inexplicable in matter. He may be at the same +time cultivating his taste for literature and the fine arts, searching +the libraries and galleries of the civilised world for the noblest and +most divinely-inspired examples of human work, seeing with an eye that +daily grows more keenly searching, and receiving and holding with a +brain that ever gains a firmer grasp, and so acquires some measure of +the higher critical faculty. He sees the ruined gardens of antiquity, +colossal works of the rulers of Imperial Rome, and the later gardens of +the Middle Ages (direct descendants of those greater and older ones), +some of them still among the most beautiful gardens on earth. He sees +how the taste for gardening grew and travelled, spreading through Europe +and reaching England, first, no doubt, through her Roman invaders. He +becomes more and more aware of what great and enduring happiness may be +enjoyed in a garden, and how all that he can learn of it in the leisure +intervals of his earlier maturity, and then in middle life, will help to +brighten his later days, when he hopes to refine and make better the +garden of the old home by a reverent application of what he has learnt. +He thinks of the desecrated old bowling-green, cut up to suit the +fashion of thirty years ago into a patchwork of incoherent star and +crescent shaped beds; of how he will give it back its ancient character +of unbroken repose; he thinks how he will restore the string of +fish-ponds in the bottom of the wooded valley just below, now a rushy +meadow with swampy hollows that once were ponds, and humpy mounds, ruins +of the ancient dikes; of how the trees will stand reflected in the still +water; and how he will live to see again in middle hours of summer days, +as did the monks of old, the broad backs of the golden carp basking just +below the surface of the sun-warmed water. + +And such a man as this comes home some day and finds the narrow-minded +gardener, who believes that he already knows all that can be known about +gardening, who thinks that the merely technical part, which he +perfectly understands, is all that there is to be known and practised, +and that his crude ideas about arrangement of flowers are as good as +those of any one else. And a man of this temperament cannot be induced +to believe, and still less can he be made to understand, that all that +he knows is only the means to a further and higher end, and that what he +can show of a completed garden can only reach to an average dead-level +of dulness compared with what may come of the life-giving influence of +one who has the mastery of the higher garden knowledge. + +Moreover, he either forgets, or does not know, what is the main purpose +of a garden, namely, that it is to give its owner the best and highest +kind of earthly pleasure. Neither is he enlightened enough to understand +that the master can take a real and intelligent interest in planning and +arranging, and in watching the working out in detail. His small-minded +vanity can only see in all this a distrust in his own powers and an +intentional slight cast on his ability, whereas no such idea had ever +entered the master's mind. + +Though there are many of this kind of gardener (and with their +employers, if they have the patience to retain them in their service, I +sincerely condole), there are happily many of a widely-different nature, +whose minds are both supple and elastic and intelligently receptive, who +are eager to learn and to try what has not yet come within the range of +their experience, who show a cheerful readiness to receive a fresh +range of ideas, and a willing alacrity in doing their best to work them +out. Such a servant as this warms his master's heart, and it would do +him good to hear, as I have many times heard, the terms in which the +master speaks of him. For just as the educated man feels contempt for +the vulgar pretension that goes with any exhibition of ignorant vanity, +so the evidence of the higher qualities commands his respect and warm +appreciation. Among the gardeners I have known, five such men come +vividly to my recollection--good men all, with a true love of flowers, +and its reflection of happiness written on their kindly faces. + +But then, on the other hand, frequent causes of irritation arise between +master and man from the master's ignorance and unreasonable demands. For +much as the love of gardening has grown of late, there are many owners +who have no knowledge of it whatever. I have more than once had visitors +who complained of their gardeners, as I thought quite unreasonably, on +their own showing. For it is not enough to secure the services of a +thoroughly able man, and to pay good wages, and to provide every sort of +appliance, if there is no reasonable knowledge of what it is right and +just to expect. I have known a lady, after paying a round of visits in +great houses, complain of her gardener. She had seen at one place +remarkably fine forced strawberries, at another some phenomenal frame +Violets, and at a third immense Malmaison Carnations; whereas her own +gardener did not excel in any of these, though she admitted that he was +admirable for Grapes and Chrysanthemums. "If the others could do all +these things to perfection," she argued, "why could not he do them?" She +expected her gardener to do equally well all that she had seen best done +in the other big places. It was in vain that I pleaded in defence of her +man that all gardeners were human creatures, and that it was in the +nature of such creatures to have individual aptitudes and special +preferences, and that it was to be expected that each man should excel +in one thing, or one thing at a time, and so on; but it was of no use, +and she would not accept any excuse or explanation. + +I remember another example of a visitor who had a rather large place, +and a gardener who had as good a knowledge of hardy plants as one could +expect. My visitor had lately got the idea that he liked hardy flowers, +though he had scarcely thrown off the influence of some earlier heresy +which taught that they were more or less contemptible--the sort of thing +for cottage gardens; still, as they were now in fashion, he thought he +had better have them. We were passing along my flower-border, just then +in one of its best moods of summer beauty, and when its main occupants, +three years planted, had come to their full strength, when, speaking of +a large flower-border he had lately had made, he said, "I told my fellow +last autumn to get anything he liked, and yet it is perfectly wretched. +It is not as if I wanted anything out of the way; I only want a lot of +common things like that," waving a hand airily at my precious border, +while scarcely taking the trouble to look at it. + +And I have had another visitor of about the same degree of appreciative +insight, who, contemplating some cherished garden picture, the +consummation of some long-hoped-for wish, the crowning joy of years of +labour, said, "Now look at that; it is just right, and yet it is quite +simple--there is absolutely nothing in it; now, why can't my man give me +that?" + +I am far from wishing to disparage or undervalue the services of the +honest gardener, but I think that on this point there ought to be the +clearest understanding; that the master must not expect from the +gardener accomplishments that he has no means of acquiring, and that the +gardener must not assume that his knowledge covers all that can come +within the scope of the widest and best practice of his craft. There are +branches of education entirely out of his reach that can be brought to +bear upon garden planning and arrangement down to the very least detail. +What the educated employer who has studied the higher forms of gardening +can do or criticise, he cannot be expected to do or understand; it is in +itself almost the work of a lifetime, and only attainable, like success +in any other fine art, by persons of, firstly, special temperament and +aptitude; and, secondly, by their unwearied study and closest +application. + +But the result of knowledge so gained shows itself throughout the +garden. It may be in so simple a thing as the placing of a group of +plants. They can be so placed by the hand that knows, that the group is +in perfect drawing in relation to what is near; while by the ordinary +gardener they would be so planted that they look absurd, or unmeaning, +or in some way awkward and unsightly. It is not enough to cultivate +plants well; they must also be used well. The servant may set up the +canvas and grind the colours, and even set the palette, but the master +alone can paint the picture. It is just the careful and thoughtful +exercise of the higher qualities that makes a garden interesting, and +their absence that leaves it blank, and dull, and lifeless. I am +heartily in sympathy with the feeling described in these words in a +friend's letter, "I think there are few things so interesting as to see +in what way a person, whose perceptions you think fine and worthy of +study, will give them expression in a garden." + + + + +INDEX + + + Adonis vernalis, 52 + + Alcohol, its gravestone, 12 + + Alexandrian laurel, 16 + + Alstroemerias, best kinds, how to plant, 92 + + Amelanchier, 52, 182 + + Ampelopsis, 43 + + Andromeda Catesbaei, 37; + A. floribunda and A. japonica, 50; + autumn colouring, 128, 165 + + Anemone fulgens, 57; + japonica, 109, 207 + + Aponogeton, 194 + + Apple, Wellington, 12; + apple-trees, beauty of form, 25 + + Aristolochia Sipho, 43 + + Arnebia echioides, 56 + + Aromatic plants, 235 + + Artemisia Stelleriana, 104 + + Arum, wild, leaves with cut daffodils, 58 + + Auriculas, 54; + seed stolen by mice, 260 + + Autumn-sown annuals, 113 + + Azaleas, arrangement for colour, 69; + A. occidentalis, 70; + autumn colouring, 128; + as trained for shows, 246 + + + Bambusa Ragamowski, 102 + + Beauty of woodland in winter, 7, 153 + + Beauty the first aim in gardening, 2, 196, 244, 248, 253, 254 + + Bedding-out as a fashion, 263 and onward; + bedding rightly used, 265 + + Berberis for winter decoration, 16; + its many merits, 21 + + Bignonia radicans, large-flowered variety, 110 + + Birch, its graceful growth, 8; + colour of bark, 9; + fragrance in April, 51; + grouped with holly, 152 + + Bird-cherry, 182 + + Bitton, Canon Ellacombe's garden at, 206 + + Blue-eyed Mary, 44 + + Books on gardening, 192 and onward + + Border plants, their young growth in April, 51 + + Bracken, 87; + cut into layering-pegs, 98; + careful cutting, 99; + when at its best to cut, 106; + autumn colouring, 127 + + Bramble, colour of leaves in winter, 20; + in forest groups, 44; + in orchard, 181; + American kinds, 182 + + Briar roses, 80, 104 + + Bryony, the two wild kinds, 43 + + Bulbous plants, early blooming, how best to plant, 49 + + Bullfinch, a garden enemy, 262 + + Butcher's broom, 151 + + + Cactus, hardy, on rock-wall, 119 + + Caltha palustris, 52 + + Campanula rapunculus, 257 + + Cardamine trifoliata, 50 + + Carnations, 94; + at shows, 243 + + Caryopteris mastacanthus, 102 + + Ceanothus, Gloire de Versailles, 205 + + Cheiranthus, alpine kinds, 62 + + Chimonanthus fragrans, 229 + + Chionodoxa sardensis and C. Lucilliae, 32 + + Choisya ternata, 63, 71, 205 + + Christmas rose, giant kind, 144 + + Chrysanthemums, hardy kinds, 144; + as trained at shows, 245 + + Cistus laurifolius, 37; + C. florentinus, 101; + C. ladaniferus, 102, 206 + + Claret vine, 110 + + Clematis cirrhosa, 14; + C. flammula when to train, 24; + wild clematis in trees and hedges, 43; + C. montana, 71, 203; + C. Davidiana, 95, 205 + + Clergymen as gardeners, 175 + + Clerodendron foetidum, 110, 206 + + Climbing plants, 202; + for pergola, 215 + + Colour, of woodland in winter, 19; + of leaves of some garden plants, 21; + colour-grouping of rhododendrons, 66; + of azaleas, 69; + colour of foliage of tree paeonies, 73; + colour arrangement in the flower-border, 89, 109, 207; + colour of bracken in October, 127; + of azaleas and andromedas in autumn, 128; + of bark of holly, 152; + study of, 197; + of flowers, how described, 221 and onward + + Copse-cutting, 166 + + Corchorus japonicus, 50 + + Coronilla varia, 259 + + Corydalis capnoides, 50 + + Cottage gardens, 4, 185; + roses in, 79 + + Cottager's way of protecting tender plants, 91 + + Cowslips, 59 + + Crinums, 206 + + Crinums, hybrid, 110, 119; + protecting, 146 + + Crocuses, eaten by pheasants, 261 + + + Daffodils in the copse, 34; + planted in old pack-horse tracks, 48 + + Dahlias, staking, 114; + digging up, 133 + + Delphiniums, 89; + grown from seed, 90; + D. Belladonna, 91 + + Dentaria pinnata, 46 + + Deutzia parviflora, 103 + + Digging up plants, 139 + + Discussions about treatment of certain plants, 3 + + Dividing tough-rooted plants, 53; + spring-blooming plants, 85; + how often, 136; + suitable tools, 136 and onward + + Dog-tooth violets, 33, 47 + + Doronicum, 53 + + Dressing of show flowers, 243 + + Dried flowers, 17 + + Dwarfing annuals, 249 + + + Edwardsia grandiflora, 206 + + Elder trees, 83; + elder-wine, 84 + + Epilobium angustifolium, white variety, 86 + + Epimedium pinnatum, 16, 46 + + Erinus alpinus, sown in rock-wall, 121 + + Eryngium giganteum, 93; + E. maritimum, 93; + E. Oliverianum, 93, 209. + + Eulalia japonica, flowers dried, 17 + + Evergreen branches for winter decoration, 16 + + Everlasting pea, dividing and propagating, 138 + + Experimental planting, 183 + + + Felling trees, 162 + + Fern Filix foemina in rhododendron beds, 37, 106; + Dicksonia punctilobulata, 62; + ferns in rock-wall, 120; + polypody, 121, 165 + + Fern-pegs for layering carnations, 98 + + Fern-walk, suitable plants among groups of ferns, 107 + + Flower border, 133, 200 + + Forms of deciduous trees, beauty of, 25 + + Forsythia suspensa and F. viridissima, 50 + + Forget-me-not, large kind, 53 + + Foxgloves, 270 + + Fungi, Amanita, Boletus, Chantarelle, 111 + + Funkia grandiflora, 212 + + + Galax aphylla, colour of leaves in winter, 21 + + Gale, broad-leaved, 101 + + Garden friends, 194 + + Garden houses, 215 + + Gardening, a fine art, 197 + + Garrya elliptica, 202 + + Gaultheria Shallon, value for cutting, 16; + in rock-garden, 165 + + Geraniums as bedding plants, 266 and onward + + Gourds, as used by Mrs. Earle, 18 + + Goutweed, 257 + + Grape hyacinths, 49, 258 + + Grass, Sheep's-fescue, 69 + + Grasses for lawn, 147 + + Grey-foliaged plants, 207 + + Grouping plants that bloom together, 70 + + Grubbing, 160; + tools, 150, 261 + + Guelder-rose as a wall-plant, 71; + single kind, 129 + + Gypsophila paniculata, 95, 209 + + + Half-hardy border plants in August, 108, 210 + + Happiness in gardening, 1, 274 + + Hares, as depredators, 260 + + Heath sods for protecting tender plants, 91 + + Heaths, filling up Rhododendron beds, 37; + wild heath among azaleas, 69; + cut short in paths, 70; + ling, 106 + + Hellebores, caulescent kinds in the nut-walk, 9; + for cutting, 57, 144; + buds stolen by mice, 260. + + Heuchera Richardsoni, 53, 135 + + Holly, beauty in winter, 8; + grouped with birch, 152; + cheerful aspect, 154 + + Hollyhocks, the prettiest shape, 105 + + Honey-suckle, wild, 43 + + Hoof-parings as manure, 133 + + Hoop-making, 166, and onward + + Hop, wild, 43 + + Hutchinsia alpina, 50 + + Hyacinth (wild) in oak-wood, 60 + + Hydrangeas, protecting, 146; + at foot of wall, 206 + + Hyssop, a good wall-plant, 121 + + + Iris alata, 14; + I. foetidissima, 120; + I. pallida, 129 + + Iris stylosa, how to plant, 13; + white variety, 14; + time of blooming, 33, 164 + + Ivy, shoots for cutting, 17 + + + Japan Privet, foliage for winter decoration, 16 + + Japan Quince (Cydonia or Pyrus), 50 + + Jasminum nudiflorum, 164 + + Junction of garden and wood, 34, 270 + + Juniper, its merits, 26; + its form, action of snow, 27; + power of recovery from damage, 29; + beauty of colouring, 30; + stems in winter dress, 31; + in a wild valley, 154, and onward + + + Kitchen-garden, 179; + its sheds, 179, 180 + + + Larch, sweetness in April, 51 + + Large gardens, 176 + + Lavender, when to cut, 105 + + Lawn-making, 146; + lawn spaces, 177, 178 + + Leaf mould, 149 + + Learning, 5, 189, 190, 273 + + Lessons of the garden, 6; + in wild-tree planting, 154; + in orchard planting, 183; + of the show-table, 241 + + Leucojum vernum, 33 + + Leycesteria formosa, 100 + + Lilacs, suckers, as strong feeders, good kinds, 23; + standards best, 24 + + Lilium auratum among rhododendrons, 37, 106; + among bamboos, 106 + + Lilium giganteum, 95; + cultivation needed in poor soil, 142 + + Lilium Harrisi and L. speciosum, 106 + + Lily of the valley in the copse, 61 + + Linaria repens, 259 + + London Pride in the rock-wall, 120 + + Loquat, 204 + + Love-in-a-mist, 251 + + Love of gardening, 1 + + Luzula sylvatica, 61 + + + Magnolia, branches indoors in winter, 16; + magnolia stellata, 50; + kinds in the choice shrub-bank, 101 + + Mai-trank, 60 + + Marking trees for cutting, 151 + + Marsh marigold, 52 + + Masters and men, 271 + + Mastic, 102 + + Meconopsis Wallichi, 165 + + Medlar, 129 + + Megaseas, colour of foliage, 17; + M. ligulata, 103; + in front edge of flower-border, 211 + + Mertensia virginica, 46; + sowing the seed, 84 + + Mice, 260, 261 + + Michaelmas daisies, a garden to themselves, 125; + planting and staking, 126; + early kinds in mixed border, 135 + + Mixed planting, 183; + mixed border, 206 + + Morells, 59 + + Mulleins (V. olympicum and V. phlomoides), 85; + mullein-moth, 86, 270 + + Muscari of kinds, 49 + + Musical reverberation in wood of Scotch fir, 60 + + Myosotis sylvatica major, 53 + + + Nandina domestica, 206 + + Narcissus cernuus, 12; + N. serotinus, 14; + N. princeps and N. Horsfieldi in the copse, 48 + + Nature's planting, 154 + + Nettles, to destroy, 259 + + Novelty, 249 + + Nut nursery at Calcot, 11 + + Nut-walk, 9; + catkins, 11; + suckers, 11 + + + Oak timber, felling, 60 + + Old wall, 72, 116 and onward + + Omphalodes verna, 45 + + Ophiopogon spicatum for winter cutting, 16 + + Orchard, ornamental, 181 + + Orobus vernus, 52; + O. aurantiacus, 62 + + Othonna cheirifolia, 63 + + + Paeonies and Lent Hellebores grown together, 76 + + Paeony moutan grouped with Clematis montana, 70; + special garden for paeonies, 72; + frequent sudden deaths, 73; + varieties of P. albiflora, 74; + old garden kinds, 75; + paeony species desirable for garden use, 75 + + Pansies as cut flowers, 57; + at shows, 243 + + Parkinson's chapter on carnations, 94 + + Pavia macrostachya, 103 + + Pea, white everlasting, 95 + + Pergola, 212 + + Pernettya, 165 + + Pests, bird, beast, and insect, 259 + + Phacelia campanularia, 63 + + Pheasants, as depredators, 261; + destroying crocuses, 261 + + Philadelphus microphyllus, 103 + + Phlomis fruticosa, 103 + + Phloxes, 135 + + Piptanthus nepalensis, 63, 206 + + Planes pollarded, 215 + + Planting early, 129; + careful planting, 130; + planting from pots, 131; + careful tree planting, 148 + + Platycodon Mariesi, 108 + + Plume hyacinth, 49 + + Polygala chamaebuxus, 164 + + Polygonum compactum, 136; + Sieboldi, 258 + + "Pot-pourri from a Surrey garden," 18 + + Primroses, white and lilac, 44; + large bunch-flowered kinds as cut flowers, 58; + seedlings planted out, 85; + primrose garden, 216 + + Primula denticulata, 184 + + Progress in gardening, 249 + + Prophet-flower (Arnebia), 56 + + Protecting tender plants, 145 + + Pterocephalus parnassi, 107 + + Pyrus Maulei, 50 + + + Queen wasps, 63 + + Quince, 128 + + + Rabbits, 260 + + Ranunculus montanus, 50 + + Raphiolepis ovata, 204 + + Rhododendrons, variation in foliage, 35; + R. multum maculatum, 35; + plants to fill bare spaces among, 37; + arrangement for colour, 64 and onward; + hybrid of R. Aucklandi, 69; + alpine, 165 + + Ribbon border, 266 + + Ribes, 50 + + Robinia hispida, 203 + + Rock garden, making and renewing, 115 + + Rock-wall, 116 and onward + + Rosemary, 204 + + Roses, pruning, tying, and training, 38; + fence planted with free roses, 38; + Reine Olga de Wurtemburg, 38; + climbing and rambling roses, 39; + Fortune's yellow, Banksian, 40; + wild roses, 43; + garden roses: Provence, moss, damask, R. alba, 78; + roses in cottage gardens, ramblers and fountains, 79; + free growth of Rosa polyantha, 80; + two good, free roses for cutting, 80; + Burnet rose and Scotch briars, Rosa lucida, 81; + tea roses: best kinds for light soil, pegging, pruning, 82; + roses collected in Capri, 105; + second bloom of tea roses, 110; + jam made of hips of R. rugosa, 111, 184; + R. arvensis, garden form of, 129; + R. Boursault elegans, 192; + China, 205; + their scents, 235 + + Ruscus aculeatus, 151; + R. racemosus, 152 + + Ruta patavina, a late-flowering rock-plant, 107 + + + Sambucus ebulis, 258 + + Satin-leaf (Heuchera Richardsoni), 53 + + Scilla maritima, 14; + S. sibirica, S. bifolia, 32 + + Scents of flowers, 229 and onward + + Scotch fir, pollen, 53; + cones opening, 54; + effect of sound in fir-wood, 60 + + Show flowers, 242 + + Show-table, what it teaches, 241 + + Shrub-bank, 101; + snug place for tender shrubs, 121 + + Shrub-wilderness of the old home, 100 + + Skimmeas, 101, 165 + + Slugs, 262 + + Smilacina bifolia, 61 + + Snapdragon, 251 + + Snowstorm of December 1886, 27 + + Snowy Mespilus (Amelanchier), 52 + + Solanum crispum, 204 + + Solomon's seal, 61 + + Spindle-tree, 127 + + Spiraea Thunbergi, 50, 104; + S. prunifolia, 104 + + St. John's worts, choice, 103 + + Stephanandra flexuosa, 103 + + Sternbergia lutea, 139 + + Sticks and stakes, 163 + + Storms in autumn, 122 + + Styrax japonica, 101 + + Suckers of nuts, 11; + robbers, how to remove, 24; + on grafted rhododendrons, 36 + + Sunflowers, perennial, 134 + + Sweetbriar, rambling, 39; + fragrance in April, 51 + + Sweet-leaved small shrubs, 34, 57, 101 + + Sweet peas, autumn sown, 83, 112 + + + Thatching with hoop-chips, 169 + + Thinning the nut-walk, 10; + thinning shrubs, 22; + trees in copse, 151 + + Tiarella cordifolia, 53; + colour of leaves in winter, 21 + + Tools for dividing, 136; + for tree cutting and grubbing, 150; + woodman's, 158; + axe and wedge, 159; + rollers, 160; + cross-cut saw, 162 + + Training the eye, 4; + training Clematis flammula, 24 + + Transplanting large trees, 147 + + Trillium grandiflorum, 61 + + Tritomas, protecting, 146 + + Tulips, show kinds and their origin, 55; + T. retroflexa, 55; + other good garden kinds, 56 + + + Various ways of gardening, 3 + + Verbascum olympicum and V. phlomoides, 85 + + Villa garden, 171 + + Vinca acutiflora, 139 + + Vine, black Hamburg at Calcot, 12; + as a wall-plant, 42; + good garden kinds, 42; + claret vine, 110, 205; + Vitis Coignettii, 123 + + Violets, the pale St. Helena, 45; + Czar, 140 + + Virginian cowslip, 46; + its colouring, 47; + sowing seed, 84 + + + Wall pennywort, 120 + + Water-elder, a beautiful neglected shrub, 123 + + Weeds, 256 + + Wild gardening misunderstood, 269 + + Wilson, Mr. G. F.'s garden at Wisley, 184 + + Window garden, 185 + + Winter, beauty of woodland, 7 + + Wistaria chinensis, 43 + + Whortleberry under Scotch fir, 51, 61 + + Woodman at work, 158 + + Woodruff, 60 + + Wood-rush, 61, 165 + + Wood-work, 163 + + + Xanthoceras sorbifolia, 103 + + + Yellow everlasting, 120 + + Yuccas, some of the best kinds, 91; + in flower-border, 201 + + + + +THE END + + + Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. + Edinburgh & London + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + + 1. Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been retained from the original. + (where both are acceptable usage) + 2. Inconsistencies in the use of capitalisation and spelling within + botanical names have been retained from the original (where both are + acceptable usage). + 3. Punctuation has been normalised. + 4. Page numbering format in the index has been standardised. + 5. The following words have been changed: + + p. 52 Amelancheir to Amelanchier: The snowy Mespilus (_Amelanchier_) + p. 89 at to as: such as Globe Artichoke + p. 93 Olivieranum to Oliverianum: useful is _E. Oliverianum_ + p. 109 Rudbekia to Rudbeckia: _Rudbeckia Newmanni_ reflects + p. 110 accomypaning to accompanying: the accompanying attacks + p. 100 Ailantus to Ailanthus: and Ailanthus and Hickory + p. 138 Olivieranum to Oliverianum: and _Eryngium Oliverianum_. + p. 206 foetidium to foetidum: Hydrangeas, _Clerodendron foetidum_ + p. 209 Olivieranum to Oliverianum: _Eryngium Oliverianum_ has turned + p. 281 ladaniferns to ladaniferus: C. ladaniferus, 102, 206 + p. 281 Olivieranum to Oliverianum: E. Oliverianum, 93, 209 + p. 285 Coignetti to Coignettii: Vitis Coignettii, 123 + + 6. p. 170 in the bill of sale, a "letter" best described as an inverted + V, is here represented by [V]: IIXXX.I., IIXXXX.II[V] IIII[V]XX, IIXX + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Wood and Garden, by Gertrude Jekyll + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WOOD AND GARDEN *** + +***** This file should be named 36279.txt or 36279.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/2/7/36279/ + +Produced by StevenGibbs, Tracey-Ann Mayor and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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