ROSE GARDENS 71 



The background of dark trees is so important that 

 I venture to dwell upon it with some degree of per- 

 sistence. Any one who has seen an Ayrshire Rose 

 running wild into a Yew will recognise the value of 

 the dark foliage as a ground for the tender blush 

 white of the Rose ; and so it is with the Rose garden 

 as a whole. 



The wisdom of this treatment is well known in 

 all other kinds of gardening, but with the tender 

 colourings of so many Roses it has a special value. 

 It should be remembered that a Rose garden can 

 never be called gorgeous ; the term is quite unfitting. 

 Even in high Rose tide, when fullest of bloom, 

 what is most clearly felt is the lovable charm of 

 Rose beauty, whether of the whole scene, or of 

 some delightful detail or incident or even individual 

 bloom. 



The gorgeousness of brilliant bloom, fitly arranged, 

 is for other plants and other portions of the garden : 

 here we do not want the mind disturbed or distracted 

 from the beauty and delightfulness of the Rose. From 

 many of the Rose gardens of the usual unsatisfactory 

 type other kinds of gardening are seen, or perhaps 

 a distant view, or a carriage road, or there is some 

 one or other distracting influence that robs the Roses 

 of the full exercise of their charm. Even in a walled 

 space, unless this is darkly wooded round, it is 

 better not to have Roses on the walls themselves, 

 but rather to have the walls clothed with dark 

 greenery. 



The beneficent eflFect of neighbouring dark trees 



