6 ABOOT ORCHIDS: 
thirty feet broad, seventy feet between the horns, 
square at the back behind the fruit-trees ; a walk 
runs there, between it and the fence, and in the 
narrow space on either hand I grow such herbs as 
one cannot easily buy—chervil, chives, tarragon. 
Also I have beds of celeriac, and cold frames 
which yield a few cucumbers in the summer when 
emptied of plants. Not one inch of ground is lost 
in my garden. 
The roses occupy this crescent. After sinking 
to its utmost now, the bank stands two feet six 
inches above the gravel path. At that elevation 
they defied the shadow for years, and for the most 
part they will continue to do so as long as I feel 
any interest in their well-being. But there is a 
space, the least important fortunately, where the 
shade, growing year by year, has got the mastery. 
That space I have surrendered frankly, covering it 
over with the charming saxifrage, S. hypnoides, 
through which in spring push bluebells, prim- 
roses, and miscellaneous bulbs, while the exquisite 
green carpet frames pots of scarlet geranium and 
such bright flowers, movable at will. That saxi- 
frage, indeed, is one of my happiest devices. 
Finding that grass would not thrive upon the 
steep bank of my mounds, I dotted them over 
with tufts of it, which have spread, until at this 
