io8 Water-side planting 



dry soils, seem happy in ground sometimes flooded, as 

 we may see in the Thames valley. 



Of all sites for planting there are none in which we 

 may have clearer guidance as to what is best than we 

 have in islands and the margins of water, be it lake or 

 river. The vegetation should be mostly of a spiry-leaved 

 sort ; Willows in many forms, often beautiful in colour 

 both in summer and winter, with Dogwoods and Poplars. 

 Even the Willows of Europe and Britain are ample to 

 give fine effects, and some, like the White Willow, form 

 tall timber trees. There is also a superb group of 

 weeping trees among these Willows, some of them more 

 precious than the Babylonian Willow. This is worth 

 bearing in mind when seeking good and artistic effects. 

 Take, for example, a piece of water, good in form of 

 margin and right in every way in relation to the land- 

 scape ; it is quite easy to spoil the effect of it all by the 

 use of trees which have not the form or colour charac- 

 teristic of the water-side. By the right use of trees 

 suited to the soil we may, on the other hand, make the 

 scene beautiful in delicate colour and fine form — in a 

 word, right at all seasons, whether as a picture, as 

 covert, and even for timber. 



The best trees for water-side planting are those of our 

 own country, or of Europe and the northern world 

 generally, though we need not refuse things that come 

 to us from other countries. People are so much misled 

 by showy descriptions in catalogues, and also by their 

 own blindness to ugly things, that we often see misuse 

 beside the water of variegated trees and shrubs like the 

 variegated Elder, the Purple Beech, and other trees of 

 the worst kind for such a place. 



Tree Willows for effect. There are many Willows, 



