238 STUDIES IN GARDENING 



than of different herbaceous plants. The units of 

 the arrangement are so large that any intricate inter- 

 weaving of colour is almost impossible; besides, shrubs 

 cannot be put close together like smaller plants with- 

 out suffering from overcrowding. Most of the plants 

 of the border can be divided when they grow too 

 thick and the soil may then be redug and enriched. 

 But shrubs, to flourish, must be left alone. You can- 

 not be always experimenting with new combinations 

 or removing the smaller shrubs when they are over- 

 shadowed. Your planting must be made once and 

 for all; and without the power of frequent experiment 

 how are you to get the experience necessary for skil- 

 ful arrangement? You cannot even be sure of profit- 

 ing by the experience of others, unless their condi- 

 tions are exactly the same as yours; for some shrubs 

 grow apace in one kind of soil and others in another; 

 and a combination that succeeds in a rich loam may 

 be a failure in a light gravel. Nothing looks so miser- 

 able in a garden as a flowering shrub that does not 

 thrive. It is so large a monument of failure that it 

 may poison all the gardener's pleasure in his garden, 

 and one sickly shrub will mar the effect of a whole 

 shrubbery. 



Then again, the very number and diversity of 

 flowering shrubs are apt to intimidate the gardener. 

 There are so many that he would like to have, even 

 among those quite familiar to him, that he does not 

 know where to begin, especially if his garden is not 

 very large. And flowering shrubs have such different 



