220 THE COMPLETE GARDEN 



plenty of rich soil on the bottom, and an abundance of clear water and 

 uninterrupted sunlight. The best locations are on the margins of 

 sluggish streams and of bays and in sheltered nooks. Water which 

 flows too swiftly or is too cold or contains mud is not good for aquatic 

 plants, nor should they be planted in newly constructed cement tanks 

 which have not been thoroughly washed and rinsed so as to remove all 

 the caustic property of the new cement. The best fertilizer for 

 aquatic plants is cow manure, which may be mixed with twice its 

 bulk of strong loam and used for planting beds. 



In the water near the margin of a pond many more sorts of aquatic 

 and bog plants may be used, such as the native irises or flags, water 

 plantains, bulrushes, arrowheads, and marsh marigolds. These 

 plants are more hardy and less exacting in their requirements. In- 

 deed, they are likely, when congenial conditions occur, to grow so 

 luxuriantly as to prove annoying if planted in very large quantities. 

 A rich alluvial mud provides the proper soil for most sorts, and once 

 established where there is not too much lime in the water, or too swift 

 a current, they will take care of themselves. 



For planting on the land at the water's side, a still larger list of plants 

 is available. These include many of our common herbaceous garden 

 perennials, such as sneeze-weed, Japanese iris, and lemon lily, as well as 

 native herbs, such as gentians, cow parsnips, and some of our native 

 orchids. With these perennials should be combined, if possible, some 

 of the moisture-loving native shrubs. For this purpose nothing is bet- 

 ter than the swamp honeysuckle, button bush, red chokeberry, rhodora, 

 leather leaf, and wild rosemary, not to mention the more commonly 

 known dogwoods or cornels. 



If no special place is assigned to perennials, room may always be 

 found for some in the shrub border. Here there should be reluctance 

 to place any sorts that require considerable culture or the full develop- 

 ment of which might be desired, particularly if they be sorts that are 

 prized. One would be loath to subject a valuable variety of the peony, 

 for example, to a life-long competition with vigorous shrubs which, 

 in addition to sending out more rapid-growing roots, would have the 

 advantage of overtopping it. But there are certain types of perennials 

 that can, in every way, be appropriately used to fill bare spaces among 

 shrubs that do not yet cover all the space, or at the front edge of the 

 border. Here at the edge, if the shrubs do not droop too low or are 

 not too vigorous in their habit of growth, may be found a place for a 



