148 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



The first and the last word to say about form is, that we should 

 try and see beauty of form everywhere among plants that suit our 



climate. The willows of Britain are as beautiful 

 Beauty of form, as the olives of Italy, or the gum trees of 



Algeria and the South of France ; so that, 

 although the sub-tropical as a system of flower gardening has 

 failed throughout our country generally, and can only be carried 

 out well in the south of England and the warmer countries of Europe, 

 we need not deprive ourselves of the enjoyment of the finest 

 forms near and in our gardens. The new Water-Lilies take us to the 

 waterside, and there are many good forms even among our native 

 flowers and weeds. The new hardy Bamboos are also very graceful 

 and most distinct, of which several of the highest value promise to be 

 hardy in our country. What can be done with them, and a few 

 other things, we can now see in the Bamboo garden at Kew, at 

 Batsford Park, and other places. The common hardy Japan Bamboo 

 has thriven even in London, and it is not only waterside or herbaceous 

 plants of all kinds we have to think of, but the foliage of trees, 

 which in many cases is quite as beautiful as that of the dwarfer 

 plants. The hardy trees of North America are many of them beauti- 

 ful in foliage, from the Silver Maple to the Scarlet Oak, and Acacias 

 from the same country have broken into a number of beautiful 

 forms ; some are as graceful as Ferns. These trees, if obtained on 

 their own roots, will afford us fine aid as backgrounds. The Aralias 

 of Japan and China are quite hardy and almost tropical in foliage, 

 while the beauty that may be got from Ferns is very remarkable 

 indeed, our native Royal Fern being of noble proportions when well- 

 grown in half-shady and sheltered places in deep soils, as at Newick 

 Park, and the same is true of all the bold American Ferns, plants 

 too often hidden away in obscure corners, whereas the boldest of 

 them should be brought out in our cool British climate to form 

 groups on the lawn and turf. This applies also to our larger native 

 Ferns, which, massed and grouped away from the old-fashioned 

 fernery, often tell better. In this way they are used in some 

 German gardens. We do not illustrate them in this chapter, 

 because the reader has simply to turn to the chapter on the Fern 

 garden to see some of their fine forms. 



If any one objects that some of the plants mentioned in this 

 chapter are coarse, such as the great leaved composite, the answer is 

 that, on the other hand, many of them are refined and delicate, such 

 as the Acacias, Acanthus, Asparagus, Bamboos, and Ferns. Great 

 Reed, Pampas and Bulrush evergreen, Barberry, and graceful Cypress, 

 Cedar and Fir. Plantain Lily and Adam's needle not forgetting 

 the fine foliage of the Tea Rose. 



