i 4 MY GARDEN 



To the east and west of my garden are trees. 

 They belong to my neighbours, and I enjoy them 

 without the responsibility of possession. One, how- 

 ever, bends at an anxious angle over my pond, when 

 westerly gales leap upon us. Some day it may come 

 down ; and then the responsibility will be transferred 

 from my neighbour to me. 



The western clump of trees is very fine, and many 

 people consider it the making of my patch. A 

 poplar and horse-chestnuts occupy the foreground ; 

 behind them stand oaks and a beech ; to the south 

 my own robinia adds her light charm, and in the rear 

 an unusually grand elm completes the cluster. All 

 run beautifully together and group well at every 

 season of the year. In winter their grey traceries 

 are broken up by a tangle of ivy. The mass of 

 shadow offers one of those problems a gardener 

 must court and solve. For a shady, eastern-facing 

 wall there are nothing better, in a rough and ready 

 way, than berberis and ceanothus, with Japanese 

 anemones white and pink, roses, some lilies, white 

 willow herb, larkspurs, lupins, star asters, epimediums, 

 mulgediums, oriental poppies, perennial lobelias 

 purple and scarlet and the strawberries, fragaria 

 indica and fragaria lucida to run about where they 

 please. Pepper freely with narcissus bulbs. Of 

 course, many other good creatures will occur to you ; 

 and, if you want class, you must look higher, prepare a 

 really distinguished soil, and plant the noble shade- 

 lovers from Chili and elsewhere. I have one very dark 

 spot covered with ferns, out of which rise a couple 



