50 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



shade and mystery of the overhead growth give them something of the 

 look they have in woods. The lines of border after border are broken 

 by the trees, and the effect is very soft and different from what it so 

 often is, while the colour tells splendidly in the case of masses of 

 Orange Lily. The growth is free, and there is no such thing as prim- 

 ness, which greatly helps the effect. Groups of Acanthus look well 

 here, and Delphinium, Meadow Sweet, giant Scabious, and many a 

 hardy flower are refreshing to see. 



But Penshurst is an example of the many gardens (new and old) 

 where the reaction from the hardness of bedding out and the winter 

 bareness of it have led people to do away with flower beds near the 

 house. It is not the old way to clear everything away but shaven 

 Grass near a beautiful old house, nor is it the true way, but it is now 

 a common one, and it gets rid of much of the ugliness of beds. 



But there are ways of putting flowers in charming modesty about 

 a house as well as that of digging up in early summer ugly grave-like 

 beds for them. In the old days flowers clustered round the house, and 

 were the better for its shelter, warmth, and colour. Long before the 

 massing system, with all its garishness, was discovered, flowers were 

 planted for many generations in quiet ways about old English houses. 

 It is right that the main entrance and park side of a great house should 

 be frank and open, but to make the house bare all round for the sake 

 of bare Grass, and to lose all the advantage of shelter and seclusion, 

 is not the best way by far. Bays and warm corners, and high walls 

 and their shelter and variety of aspect, are delightful for flowers- 

 flowers such as could not injure any building ; not even a suspicion of 

 the injury that comes from Ivy betimes could attach to borders of 

 Fern or Iris. If we lived in a country where close turf was not seen 

 in the park, or hills, or fields, there would be a reason for having 

 nothing but turf under the windows. In the park the short nibbled 

 turf is often fringed by Bracken, Foxglove, and Wild Rose ; whereas, 

 near the house, the way too often now is to let the turf run hard and 

 straight into the walls, and the winds of heaven strike the house un- 

 tempered by the breath of a Violet. 



The question of some degree of seclusion about country houses is 

 bound up with this. Nothing is worse than planting that hides sun 

 and air from a beautiful house, but dividing lines and little sheltered 

 gardens are often needed. There are so many ways of screening off 

 such precious spaces, too — Vine, Sweet Verbena, Winter Sweet, and 

 Jasmine for low walls ; Rose, Sweet Brier, and Honeysuckle for 

 fragrant or blossoming hedges ; Clematis, Wistaria, and climbing Rose 

 for arch or pergola. The very lines for shelter or privacy might be 

 gardens of the most fragrant and beautiful things we have, from the 

 winter Jasmine to the climbing Tea Rose. No, the Grass alone is not 



