PHKFACE. vii 



There has been some misunderstanding as to the term 

 " Wild Garden." It is a|t[)liud essentially tu Ihu placing of 

 perfectly hardy exotic plants in ]tlaces and under conditions 

 where they will become established and take care of them- 

 selves. It has nothinff to do with the old idea of the 

 " wilderness," though it mav be carried out in connection 

 witli that. It does not necessarily mean the picturesc[ue 

 garden, for a garden may be highly picturesi[ue, and yet in 

 every part the result of ceaseless care. What it does mean 

 is l)est explained by the winter Aconite flowering under 

 a grove of naked trees in February ; by the Snowflake 

 growing abundantly in meadows by the Thames side ; by the 

 perennial Lupine dyeing an islet with its purple in a Scotch 

 river; and by the Apennine Anemone staining an English 

 wood blue before the blooming of our blue bells. Multiply 

 these instances a tliousandfold, illustrated by many dilferent 

 types of plants and hardy climbers, from countries as cold 

 or colder tlian our own, and one may get a just idea 

 of the wild garden. Some have erroneously represented 

 it as allowing a garden to run wild, or sowing annuals 

 •promiscuously ; whereas it studiously avoids meddling with 

 the garden proper at all, except in attempting the improve- 

 ments of bare shrubbery borders in the London parks and 

 elsewhere ; Ijut these are waste spaces, not gardens. 



I wish it to be kept distinct in the mind from the ^■ariuus 

 important phases of hardy plant growth in groups, beds, and 

 l)orders, in which good culture and good taste may produce 



