200 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



this objection on my part to intricate design is mistaken for an 

 objection to formality altogether. Now there are bold spirits who 

 do not mind setting their houses among rocks and heather, but we 

 must cultivate a flower garden, and simplicity as to the form of the beds 

 should be the rule in it. There are many ways of growing flowers 

 and all sorts of situations fit for them, but the flower garden itself 

 near the house must be laid out with formal beds, or else we cannot 

 cultivate the flowers or get about the ground with ease. It is a 

 question of right and wrong formality. The beds in my own garden 

 are, as will be seen by the plans here given, as formal as any, but 

 simpler, and are made on the ground and to suit the ground. Our 

 object should be to see the flowers and not the beds, so that while 

 we have all the advantage of mass and depth of soil, and all the 

 good a bed can give for convenience of working or excellence of 

 growth, we should take little pride in its form, and plant it so that 

 we may see the picturesque effects of the plants and flowers, and 

 forget the form of the bed in the picture. 



The relation of the beds to each other is often much too complex 

 and there is little freedom. Designs that were well enough for 

 furniture or walls or panels when applied to the garden gave us a 

 new set of difficulties. Carried out in panel or in the carpet they 

 answer their purpose, if we like them ; but a flower-bed is a thing 

 for much work in cultivating, arranging and keeping it, and it is 

 best to see that we are not hindered by needless complexities in 

 dealing with the beds. In good plans there is no difficulty of access, 

 no small points to be cut in grass or other material, no vexatious 

 obstruction to work, but beds as airy and simple as possible and 

 giving us much more room for flowers than beds of the ordinary 

 type. The plans given are those of wholly different kinds of 

 gardens. 



The plan of the gardener's house of Uffington, near Stamford, 



is an example of the older-fashioned garden not uncommon before 



nearly all old gardens were altered for the sake 



Garden of the Perilla and its few companions. At one end 



at Uffington. of the little garden is the gardener's house, and 

 high walls surround the rest of the garden, so that 

 there is shelter and every comfort for the plants. The garden is 

 simply laid out to suit the ground, the plants Roses and hardy 

 flowers in great variety, a plan which admits of delightful effect 

 in such walled gardens. Picturesque masses of Wistaria covered 

 one side of the wall and part of the house the whole was a picture 

 in the best sense ; and it would be difficult to find in garden 

 enclosures anything more delightful during more than half the year. 



The main drawback in gardens of this sort in the old days was 



