CHAPTER XV 

 A Little Bog Border 



IN almost every garden of circumscribed extent there 

 is a border facing north that is more or less unsatis- 

 factory. Why not make a bog border of it ? I happened 

 to possess such a piece of ground, and the thought occurred 

 that there are plenty of exquisite bog-loving plants that 

 delight in shade, and it seemed that in such an appar- 

 ently unpromising place one might be able to fulfil their 

 requirements. Accordingly I set to work, and first 

 dug out the soil to a depth of two feet, then filled the 

 lower six inches with broken bricks for drainage. Drainage 

 in a bog border ! you exclaim. It sounds odd, certainly, 

 but it seems nevertheless to be the right thing. It 

 ensures what bog plants seem to like so much moisture 

 that passes through the soil. The drainage is especially 

 advantageous in winter, for owing to the unfavourable 

 position of the little border the sun scarcely shines on 

 its surface between October and March. The drainage 

 serves to keep the soil from becoming water-logged and 

 sour, which it would otherwise be liable to do. In the 

 summer it is perhaps a slight disadvantage in that it 

 necessitates free and constant watering. Of course, 

 an ideal way out of the difficulty is to have a perforated 



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