48 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



of bare Grass, and to lose all the advantage of shelter and seclusion, 

 is not the best way by far. Bays and warm corners, and high walls 

 and their shelter and variety of aspect, are delightful for flowers 

 flowers such as could not injure any building ; not even a suspicion of 

 the injury that comes from Ivy betimes could attach to borders of 

 Fern or Iris. If we lived in a country where close turf was not seen 

 in the park, or hills, or fields, there would be a reason for having 

 nothing but turf under the windows. In the park the short nibbled 

 turf is often fringed by Bracken, Foxglove, and Wild Rose ; whereas,, 

 near the house, the way too often now is to let the turf run hard and 

 straight into the walls, and the winds of heaven strike the house un- 

 tempered by the breath of a Violet. 



The question of some degree of seclusion about country houses is 

 bound up with this. Nothing is worse than planting that hides sun 

 and air from a beautiful house, but dividing lines and little sheltered 

 gardens are often needed. There are so many ways of screening off 

 such precious spaces, too Vine, Sweet Verbena, Winter Sweet, and 

 Jasmine for low walls ; Rose, Sweet Brier, and Honeysuckle for 

 fragrant or blossoming hedges ; Clematis, Wistaria, and climbing Rose 

 for arch or pergola. The very lines for shelter or privacy might be 

 gardens of the most fragrant and beautiful things we have, from the 

 winter Jasmine to the climbing Tea Rose. No, the Grass alone is not 

 and never can be the artistic way on all sides of a house, and the 

 common French way of a waste of gravel all round a house is still 

 worse. The gray of the Carnation is welcome in winter seen from the 

 windows, and there are many evergreen rock plants that take their 

 deepest hues of green in winter, and they are a long way better, even 

 for their green, than the winter- worn turf. It is often well, too, to see 

 a glimpse from the windows of the way the Crocus opens its heart to 

 the sun brilliant forerunner of crowds of fair blossoms. 



COMPTON WlNYATES. Compton Winyates is one of the dearest 

 of the old houses jewelled over the land of England, the most 

 charming of countries for its houses. There are graceful old climbers 

 and trees near, but not much showy gardening almost none. There 

 is also very little of what is called pleasure ground in the ordinary 

 sense ; but that is too stereotyped a thing to make one regret it in the 

 presence of such a beautiful home. None the less is it pleasant to 

 wander over the high fields near and along the deep slopes of the 

 coombe, especially in the autumn time with the tree leaves rich in 

 colour, and the Barberry laden with a thousand coral boughs. Compton 

 Winyates is one of the old houses not surrounded by terraces, but 

 sits quietly on the turf, and tells us, as other of our finest old houses 

 do, that each situation demands its own treatment as regards the 

 surroundings of the house. 



