170 GARDEN-CRAFT. 



light grey or whitish green. Such a colour never 

 tires the eye, and harmonises with the tints of the 

 landscape, " particularly of the lawn." This seems 

 to be neutralising the effects of the flowers, and this 

 primal consideration of the lawn is like scorning 

 your picture for the sake of its frame ! 



Sir Gardner Wilkinson, who writes of gardens 

 from quite another point of view, says : " It is by no 

 means necessary or advisable to select rare flowers 

 for the beds, and some of the most common are the 

 most eligible, being more hardy, and therefore less 

 likely to fail, or to cover the bed with a scanty 

 and imperfect display of colour. Indeed, it is a 

 common mistake to seek rare flowers, when many of 

 the old and most ordinary varieties are far more 

 beautiful. The point to note in this matter of 

 choosing flowers for a geometrical garden is to 

 ascertain first the lines that will best accord with 

 the design, and make for a harmonious and brilliant 

 effect, and to see that the flowers best suited to it 

 blossom at the same periods. A succession of those 

 of the same colour may be made to take the place of 

 each, and continue the design at successive seasons. 

 They should also be, as near as possible, of the 

 same height as their companions, so that the blue 

 flowers be not over tall in one bed, or the red 

 too short in another. . . . Common flowers, the 

 weeds of the country, are often most beautiful in 

 colour, and are not to be despised because they are 

 common ; they have also the advantage of being 

 hardy, and rare flowers are not always those 



