168 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 



the 'English Flower Garden.' A good deal of what I 

 have said on the planting of herbaceous borders applies 

 here namely, the necessity of grouping colour in masses, 

 and not speckling the kinds about at random. The 

 amateur must not be disappointed at finding that a good 

 shrubbery, however well planted, will not make much 

 effect under five or six years. This kind of planting is 

 very much better understood by the landscape gardeners 

 sent out by nurserymen now than it was some years 

 ago. 



If, instead of a new house, we buy a place that has 

 been planted for some twenty or thirty years, the amount 

 that has to be thinned out is incredible. People in Eng- 

 land are so afraid of thinning out ; if they would only try 

 it with greater boldness, they would soon realise how 

 very quickly the gaps are filled up again by the improved 

 strength of the plants. Short of destroying protection 

 from winds, I should say it is hardly possible to do any 

 harm if, where two plants are crowded together, the 

 Laurel is always sacrificed. But remember that severe 

 clearing of shrubs must be done in the summer, as when 

 delicate shrubs that have always been surrounded by 

 strong growers are exposed late in the year, they are apt 

 to be killed if the winter is severe. Wherever Hollies 

 or Yews have been crowded, they look very ugly, after 

 clearing, for a year or so ; but if well cut back, they soon 

 recover, and make better plants than young ones would 

 do in many years. It is quite superfluous for me to give 

 a catalogue of desirable shrubs, for there is an admirable 

 list of all the hardy flowering trees and shrubs in the 

 introductory part of the later editions of the eternally- 

 mentioned ' English Flower Garden.' Their cultivation 

 and propagation are all given in the body of the work. 

 Where edging is necessary to keep the soil separate from 

 the gravel road, I should advise, instead of the grass, flat 



