RETROSPECT 117 



value. Without in any way wishing to disparage the 

 wonderful results which have crowned the efforts 

 of the skilled horticulturist, I do think that there 

 is more pure enjoyment to be obtained from the close 

 association with these charming mountain plants 

 with their intensely interesting methods of adaptation 

 to their special conditions, than in devoting one's 

 small garden to the production of plants, often in 

 themselves far from elegant, which produce wonderful, 

 though I think in many cases less really beautiful 

 flowers for a short period during the Summer. 



Then again this form of gardening lends itself 

 essentially to decorative or artistic treatment (and 

 surely to the best form of that art), since to be successful 

 one must not only make one's garden into a picture, 

 but it must so closely follow the great ideal of Nature 

 as to provide suitable homes for its little inhabitants. 



With the average garden plant, one's value of it 

 is, to a large extent, limited to how much flower it 

 will produce whereas, with the majority of our 

 mountain friends, we are anxious for them to be 

 always in perfect condition, thereby decorating their 

 special niche in our garden, and when in their seasons 

 they spread their blossoms to our gaze, we accept 

 them as additional evidence of their kindly feeling 

 towards us, and an expression of their appreciation of 

 what we have done for them. 



