CHAPTER VII 



WILD WATER MARGINS 



THE native stream or meadow pool is nearly always 

 beautiful. Formed by natural means, and clothed with 

 a diversity of water plants, the gardener will here seek 

 his truest inspiration. No matter at what season we visit 

 it, we find ample evidences of rational grouping and 

 exquisite colour effect. In early spring, great clumps 

 of Marsh Marigold line the moisture-laden margins, the 

 blossoms raised like golden chalices to catch the fitful 

 sun-rays that slant from behind the storm clouds. The 

 Loosestrife and creamy Meadowsweet give colour and 

 fragrance throughout the summer days, and as autumn 

 advances the leaves of the Water Dock are dyed a vivid 

 scarlet. Nor yet in mid-winter is the stream margin 

 devoid of interest ; there will yet be a glint of silver 

 among the willows, the soft greys and fawns of dying 

 rush and sedge stain the banks, and above all, there is 

 beauty of form as displayed by a group of alders, 

 stretching their naked branches across the water. 



Seeing then the success that has attended Nature 

 unaided, we must be exceeding careful in our treatment 

 of a water garden of this description. The planting of 

 incongruous subjects, or any attempt at formal pathmaking 

 or bank work, will result in a hopeless jumble, in which 

 the good effect of one section will be entirely nullified 

 by the unsuitability of its surroundings. However, there 

 are few of these wild water gardens that may not be 

 distinctly improved by careful and restrained planting. 



