Natural Features 9 



either among the plants or in the walks or paths, and the look of 

 extreme tidiness which spoils everything but the most formal 

 plan, should be avoided like the plague. Keep out the weeds, 

 but do not trouble about stray wildings that may take up their 

 abode among your treasures. There is as much beauty in com- 

 mon toad-flax as there is in many highly prized aristocrats of the 

 flowery kingdom — and long feathery grasses are more in keeping 

 with rock or wild gardening than closely cut, trim turf; likewise 

 edges should never be sharply defined nor trimmed. 



Stony land requires rather more consideration in the planting 

 than in the planning, and is therefore to be considered more 

 especially from the horticultural point of view. There is one 

 thing to be remembered in dealing with it, however, and that is 

 that any attempt at formal design will almost certainly result 

 in failure, no matter how carefully it may be planned. The 

 reason for this is that the stones are thicker in some places than 

 in others, and the soil cannot conserve moisture equally and 

 evenly. Consequently the plants will not grow at an even rate — 

 which they simply must do in a formal design. Otherwise the 

 lines and the proportions will soon be utterly lost. 



Of the bog garden on wet land I have already spoken. If 

 there is so much water that it lies on the surface constantly, 

 it is better to dig out enough earth at the lowest point to make 

 a pool, even though it is a very small one. This will give the 

 birds a bathing place, besides furnishing an opportunity to grow 

 one or two real aquatics, as well as the other things which love 

 dampness, though they do not actually live in water. 



If this pool can be located in the open where it will catch the 

 simlight, have it there by all means rather than in the shade. 

 A shaded bit of water is sometimes gloomy and depressing, but 

 water in the sunlight has just the opposite effect — it is all light 



