Grottos. 



Wall 

 gardens. 



ROCK, WALL AND BOG GARDENS. 



quarters of an inch to an inch in diameter. By the time these have rotted away, the 

 turf will be firmly established. 



In certain cases, in order to obtain a proper gradient for a garden path, it may 

 need excavating several feet at one point. By making the excavation a little wider in 

 certain parts, we may arrange such a garden as that just described under the happiest 

 circumstances. In such schemes, little caves and -grottos are delightful when well arranged, 

 and provide an opportunity for the cultivation of many tiny ferns and beautiful mosses 

 and lichens which will not thrive elsewhere, except on the walls of old wells in country 

 districts. It is in these features, however, that failure to make the artificial rockwork 

 completely satisfactory is most often apparent. It is so difficult to avoid any suggestion 

 of a built-up arch or lintel over the opening, and to make the interior look as though 

 wrought out of the solid rock by the action of the elements, as in the case of a natural 

 cave. Limestone lends itself most naturally to this class of work, as it is in this rock 



FIG. 266. WALL GARDEN AT WOOD, DEVONSHIRE. 



that nine-tenths of the larger natural caves are found. Sandstone does not usually 

 provide deep caves, and, in this material, deep, water-worn clefts overhung by a boldly- 

 projecting stratum look more in keeping than a regular cave-chamber. The grotto-work 

 of the Georgian garden, a little cave studded all over its interior surface with sea shells, 

 little mirrors or coloured glass is a childish affectation, and quite unsuited to the 

 wild garden. A naturally treated grotto of limestone, in a limestone district, with its 

 stalactites and dripping well, is not, of course, open to the same objection. 



In other cases where excavation has been necessary, a wall garden may be the better 

 method, especially on a path subject to much traffic, or where there is no room to expand 

 it into a rocky glen. In this case, instead of artificial rockwork, the banks will be kept 

 back by walls of large boulders or rough-hewn stones, so built that plants may be 



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