CHAPTER XII 

 THE ROCK-GARDEN (continued) 



IT can never be repeated too often that in this, as in 

 all kinds of gardening where some kind of beauty is 

 aimed at, the very best effects are made by the sim- 

 plest means, and by the use of a few different kinds of 

 plants only at a time. A confused and crowded com- 

 position is a fault in any picture ; in the pictures that 

 we paint with living plants just as much as in those 

 that are drawn and painted on paper or canvas. 

 Moreover, the jumbled crowd of incongruous items, 

 placed without thought of their effect on one another, 

 can only make a piece of chance patchwork ; it can 

 never make a design. However interesting the indi- 

 vidual plants may be, we want to get good proportion 

 and beautiful combination in order to make the good 

 garden-picture, while the individuals themselves gain 

 in importance by being shown at their best. I have 

 therefore thought it would be helpful to put together 

 lists of plants for the different situations, and within 

 the lists to bracket the names of some that look the 

 best as near neighbours. In many cases they can be 

 intergrouped at the edges. These lists appear at the 

 end of the chapter. Where the same plant is named 

 more than once, it is to be understood that it is good 



