INTRODUCTION xxvii 



than in the most sumptuous rock gardens. Rock gar- 

 dens are to be found everywhere now. They are a 

 part of the return to nature in gardening, and, like 

 other things in that movement, they are sometimes 

 carried to absurd lengths. But, in spite of this, with 

 their ceaseless experiments and with the new sense 

 they bring of the characteristic beauty of plants, they 

 have done much good, not only to the craft of horti- 

 culture, but, in an indirect way, to the art of flower 

 arrangement. They are teaching gardeners not to play 

 tricks with their plants, not to use them like chips in 

 a mosaic. They have, at any rate, put an end to car- 

 pet bedding except in certain public gardens where it 

 is practised as an interesting survival. In the rock 

 garden nature itself forces upon the gardener some con- 

 gruity of arrangement. You cannot mix Hollyhocks 

 with Androsaces; at least, if you do the Androsaces 

 are pretty sure to die. And the gardener who gets 

 a sense of congruity from his rockwork will carry it 

 into other parts of his garden. It is not in the least 

 inconsistent with formal design. Indeed, formal de- 

 sign is quickly spoilt by any incongruity in the ar- 

 rangement of plants; and the best formal borders have 

 a natural look, with all their regularity. 



Still, with all that can be said for it, rock garden- 

 ing remains a game for the true gardener, and no one 

 should have a rock garden who does not intend to 

 spend time and labour upon it himself. Professional 

 gardeners are an excellent race of men; but most of 

 them are made gardeners, not born, and rock gardens 



