106 THE WILD GARDEN. 



in patches amongst these the Red (Jampion, together with vvcvy other 

 ]tretty wilil flower we couhl obtain — Forget-me-nots, Glolje- flowers, 

 (Jolunri lines, Anemones, Primroses, Cowslips, Polyanthuses, Campanulas, 

 Golden Rods, ete. All the bulbs which liave bloomed in the green- 

 houses are planted out in these spaces, so that there are \u>^y large 

 clumps of choice soils of Crocus, Tulip, Narcissus, and Hyacinth. We 

 have also planted Ijulbs very extensively, and as they have been 

 allowed to grow on undisturbed we have now large patches of Daffodils, 

 Narcissi, and other spring flowers in great beauty and exuberance. 

 When we trim the garden all tlie spare plants are brought here, where 

 they form a reserve, and it is thus gradually getting stocked, and all 

 the bare ground covered witli foliage and flowers. Lastly, iov autumn 

 blooming we raised large quantities of Foxgloves in every colour, and 

 the larger Campanulas, and these were pricked out everywhere, so tliat 

 we have a glorious show of Foxglove flowers to close the year worth all 

 the trouble. A wild garden of this sort is a very useful reserve 

 ground, wliere many a plant survives after it has been lost in tlic 

 borders. Such spare seedlings as the Acpiilegias, Campanulas, Primulas, 

 Trolliuses, and other hardy plants can here find space until wanf('(l 

 elsewhere, and one can frecj[\iently find blooms for bouc^uets in the 

 dell Avlien the garden flowers are over. The Lily of the Valley and 

 Sweet Violet also flourish here, creeping over heaps of stones, and 

 Hower more freely than they do in more open situations. A^isitors 

 often say tliat the dell beats all the rest of the garden for beauty, and 

 it certainly gives less trouble in the attainment. 



Brockhurst, Didslmry. In (hvnh'n. Wm. Brockbank. 



THE WILD GARDEN IN AMERICA.i 



Probalily many of your readers will ask, "What U a Mild garden /" 

 When I came to London, al)out fifteen years ago, "flower-gardening" 

 liad but one mode of expression only, viz. " bedding out," and that in its 

 harshest form — ribbons, borders, an<l solid masses of flowers of one 

 colour and one height. The old hardy flowers had been completely 

 swept away ; the various and once popular race of so-called florist's flowers 

 were rarely or never seen. As a consequence, gardens were indescrib- 

 ably monotonous to any person with the faintest notion of the in- 

 exhaustible charms of the plant world. This kind of flower-gardening 

 has the same relatidu to true art in a garden which the daubs of colour 



1 A letter written by re([uest, in the Rural New Yorker, July 1876. 



