170 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 



for summer, together with Snapdragons and Foxgloves 

 all of which grow well in grass. The grass must then 

 only be mown once a year, in July. 



Many of the houses built round the neighbourhood of 

 London in the early part of the century were built close to 

 the road, and have a ludicrous and pompous approach of 

 a drive passing the front door, with two gates one for 

 entrance and one for exit. Surely this is a great waste 

 of ground with no proportionate advantage. Most places 

 of this kind would certainly be improved if the two gates 

 were blocked up, the drive done away with, and a straight 

 paved or bricked path made from the door to the road, 

 with a shelter of wood, or even of corrugated iron, painted 

 to match the house, and creepers planted along the posts 

 that support it. The space on either side of this path 

 could be planted with low-growing shrubs, or in some 

 instances laid with turf. 



In spite of all the charming things Mr. Eobinson says 

 about it, ' wild gardening ' is, I am sure, a delusion and 

 a snare. I live near one of the most beautiful so-called 

 wild gardens in England, but it requires endless care, 

 and is always extending in all directions in search of 

 fresh soil. What is possible is to have the appearance 

 of a wild garden in consequence of the most judicious 

 planting, with consummate knowledge and experience of 

 the plants that will do well in the soil if they are just a 

 little assisted at the time of planting. I saw the other 

 day the most lovely Surrey garden I know, though it is 

 without any peculiar natural advantages from the lie of 

 the land a flat piece of ground on the top of a hill, a 

 copse wood of Spanish Chestnut, Birch, Holly, and Fir, 

 Even in the original thinning of the wood the idea had 

 been formulated that certain plants and trees had better 

 be kept together as they grew, and broad open spaces 

 had been cut, broken up with groups of Holly for 



