CHAPTER XV. 



SELECTIONS OF IIAIIDY EXOTIC PLANTS FOR VARIOUS POSITIONS 

 ■ IN THE WILD GARDEN. 



As it is (lesiralile to kuDw 

 how to procure as well as 

 how to select the best kinds, 

 a few words on the first 

 ? subject may not be amiss 

 Jiere. 

 jlMlK A very important point 

 is the getting of a stock of 

 plants to begin witli. In country or other places 

 where many good old border flowers remain in the 

 cottage gardens, many species may be collected 

 therein. A series of nursery beds should be formed 

 in some by -place in which such subjects could be 

 increased to any desired degree. Free -growing 

 spring - flowers like Aubrietia, Alyssum, and Iberis, 

 maybe multiplied to any extent by division or cuttings. 

 Numbers of kinds may be raised from seed sown rather thinly in drills, in 

 nursery beds in the open air. The catalogues should be searched every 

 Spring for suitable subjects. The best time for sowing is the Spring, but 

 any time during the Summer will do. Many perennials and bulbs must 

 be bought in nurseries and increased as well as may be in nursery beds. 

 As to soil, etc., the best way is to avoid the trouble of preparing it 

 except for specially, interesting plants. The great point is to adapt the 

 plant to the soil — in peaty places to place plants that thrive in peat, 

 in clay soils those that thrive in clays, and so on. Among coarse 

 vegetation the best way is to dig the ground deeply before planting, so 



Ophrys in grass. 



