CHAPTER II 



ORNAMENTAL PLANTING IN WOODLAND 



WHERE woodland adjoins garden ground, and the 

 one passes into the other by an almost imperceptible 

 gradation, a desire is often felt to let the garden 

 influence penetrate some way into the wood by the 

 planting within the wood of some shrubs or trees 

 of distinctly ornamental character. 



Such a desire very naturally arises it is wild 

 gardening with the things of larger growth ; but, 

 like all forms of wild gardening (which of all branches 

 of gardening is the most difficult to do rightly, and 

 needs the greatest amount of knowledge), the wishes 

 of the planter must be tempered with extreme pre- 

 caution and restraint. It does not do to plant in 

 the wild garden things of well-known garden charac- 

 ter. This is merely to spoil the wood, which, in 

 many cases, is already so good that any addition 

 would be a tasteless intrusion of something irrelevant 

 and unsuitable. 



Still, there are certain wooded places where a 

 judicious planting would be a gain, and there are 

 a certain number of trees and shrubs which those 

 who have a fair knowledge of their ways, and a 

 true sympathy with the nature of woodland, recognise 

 as suitable for this kind of planting. They will be 



