8 FLOWERS AND THE FLOWER GARDEN. 



time. The plain flower garden is the especial theatre 

 for choice roses ; for the recesses among trees and shrubs, 

 sheltered sunny nooks, and warm borders of various 

 aspect, offer good places for all degrees of hardihood, 

 height, and size. Pine herbaceous plants, too, of which 

 we have such endless variety, have every facility in 

 gardens where plants of all heights are wanted arid can 

 be well placed. 



The sort of garden on which we decide, among those 

 I have named, and many other kinds, must depend on 

 the size of the ground at command, the climate in which 

 it stands, its aspect, surface, and soil ; also on the money 

 and labour which we wish to bestow on our horticul- 

 tural pursuits. Most persons who take to gardening, 

 however, have no power of choice in the matter, but follow 

 after others, take in hand the garden which happens to 

 come to hand, and make the best of it. Those who 

 make the best of it, whether in the affairs of life or the 

 affairs of the garden, are pretty sure to do well and 

 prosper. If we take a garden already in cultivation, 

 much uncertainty in decision will be spared us. Let us 

 in this instance go to work with caution, and take care 

 how we destroy ; for old gardens may have many trees 

 and roots well worth saving which do not look so at 

 first sight. 



CHAPTER II. 



THE LAYING OUT OE THE GARDEN. 



THE kind of fencing is a matter of less importance in 

 the flower than in the kitchen garden, provided it offer 

 good protection and be pleasant to the eye. It must 

 also be sufficiently substantial to ward off biting winds 

 and live intruders. 

 A wall is an ugly thing in a flower garden, although a 



