28 



THE WILD GARDEN. 



eharming can-ulean tints of such as D. Belladonna ; and being 

 usually of a tall and strong type, will make way among long 

 grasses and vigorous weeds, unlike many things for which we 

 have to recommend an open space, or a wood with notliing 



but a carpet of moss under the trees. 



One of the prettiest effects whicli 

 I liave ever seen was a colony of tall 

 Larkspurs. Portions of old roots of 

 several species and varieties had been 

 chopped off when a 

 l)ed of these plants 

 was dug in the autumn. 

 For convenience sake 

 the refuse had been 

 thrown into the neigh- 

 l)Ouring shrubbery, far 

 in among the shrubs 

 and trees. Here they 

 grew in half- open 

 spaces, which were so 

 far removed from tlie 

 margin that they were not dug and were not seen. When I 

 saw the Larks]iurs in flower they were certainly the loveliest 

 things that one could see. They were more beautiful than they 

 are in borders or beds, not growing in such close stiff tufts, but 

 mingling with and relieved by the trees above and the shrubs 

 around. Little more need be said to any one who knows and 

 cares about such plants, and lias an opportunity of planting 

 in such neglected places. This case points out that one might 

 make wild gardens from the mere parings and thinnings of 



Tall Perennial Larkspurs, naturalised in Shrubbery (1878). 



