6 MARCH 



in his delightful book, The Wild Garden, tells us 

 how good results may be secured in this way. 



The yellow foxglove, one of the hardiest and 

 most robust of plants, would be a fit companion for 

 its spotted relative ; the Asiatic primroses for the 

 English. There are perhaps a good half-dozen 

 plants of the forget-me-not family which would 

 thrive with our own beautiful blue spring flower, 

 and the same may be said of the columbine in its 

 season. But even these might yield place in point 

 of fitness to the many bulbous things which could 

 not fail to do well in the herbage. Imagine an 

 orchard glittering in springtime with the narcissus 

 of a hundred varieties ; with the nodding star of 

 Bethlehem, too seldom seen ; with the fritillary in 

 many forms, the Spanish hyacinth in two or three 

 colours, the scarlet tulip, the scilla, the dog's-tooth 

 violet, the snowflake, and many more ! The 

 imagination can hardly picture anything in nature 

 more beautiful than this. And the spring show 

 would be succeeded by a summer show as beautiful 

 and even more striking, and, moreover, helped out 

 by waving grass growing naturally among the 

 flowers. I do not know any kind of gardening 

 more effective than wild gardening in its season. 



Many persons who have no grass meadow to 

 devote to a wild garden could at least clo some- 

 thing to improve the terrible shrubbery which 

 reigns in every conventional English garden en- 

 closure. There are hosts of things that will 

 flourish even in such hostile society as that of deep- 

 rooting lilacs and light-excluding laurels. It would 

 be an idle effort to attempt to persuade the average 



