WATER GARDENS 



FORTUNATE indeed is the garden which is beautified by Need of 

 the presence of water, whether it be the silent pool of Water in the 

 mystery or a running stream alive with joy, for it is at the Garden 

 margins of these that we can place the moisture-loving plants 

 and revel in their consequent luxuriant growth ; and there are 

 so many splendid plants which cannot be successfully grown 

 unless their roots are able to reach down to the water level. It 

 should be the earnest desire of every garden lover to form some 

 water garden, either large enough to be dignified by the name 

 of a pond, or, should space and opportunity prevent anything 

 so satisfactory, a mere cement tank with stone edges and fed by 

 a tap. However small may be the surface of water, if 

 judiciously managed, it will prove one of the most interesting 

 places in the garden. It will be here that you will catch a 

 glimpse of the reflected blue or grey of the changeful sky, and 

 looking into the depths obtain a sense of coolness even on the 

 warmest day. There is also something about a bright colour, 

 when reflected in a pool, that never fails to acquire an added 

 beauty in contrast with the blue of the mirrored sky, and 

 softened down by the slight movement of the water surface as 

 though seen through a veil. 



It is for this effect that I would have some water in every 

 garden, and would plant brilliantly-coloured flowers on the 

 brink of a tank or pond, so that we may have a picture of 

 colour not to be obtained in quite the same way by the growing 

 plants themselves. A little insect will come to the surface and 



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