8 COME INTO THE GARDEN 



other striking thing about them — they will not 

 deceive nor give out a false impression. Hence 

 if it is desired to produce a certain impression 

 through the home and its gardens, it is neces- 

 sary to start in the very heart of things and be- 

 come what that impression signifies. In no 

 other way will it be possible to convince; we 

 must be, in other words, what we want our gar- 

 den to make us seem. 



Happily this works both ways; for the garden 

 itself is the best means of becoming genuine — 

 of getting right oneself. Just why this is so does 

 not always appear on the surface of things — but 

 I suspect it is because everything dealt with in 

 the garden is so genuine, and because it is in it- 

 self such an elemental occupation. There is vir- 

 tue in earth contact and there is inspiration in 

 the observation of plant unfoldment, whether 

 we are mystical, empirical, or rationalistic in our 

 temperament — whether we believe it or not, in 

 short. And what is more, it works, whether we 

 believe it or not. So we have only to give it the 

 chance; the rest will come. 



In its application to the individual and the in- 

 dividual garden all that I have just said re- 

 solves itself into one sound maxim for a starting 

 point, namely : — the garden is at once the oppor- 

 tunity and the achievement, the cause and the 



