2 4 o THE NEW GARDENING 



There is no dearth of beautiful and interesting plants 

 for the margins and surroundings of water, and happily 

 we find a plentiful supply of lovely material when we 

 come to deal with the pool itself, which, after all, is the 

 most important part of the whole scheme. However 

 pleasant the surroundings might be, a bare, shadowed 

 and ugly piece of water would be disagreeable. 



The Water Lilies or Nymphaeas come to mind directly 

 we think of plants for growing in shallow water. These 

 beautiful flowers love still, placid, sun-warmed water. 

 A rapid stream is not to their liking, nor do they enjoy 

 cold, dark, shady water. When the water of a pool 

 flashes joyously in the sunlight the Nymphaeas are happy. 

 On that burning summer day when every winged haunter 

 of the water's living surface is frenzied with activity 

 the Water Lilies live the fullest measure of their lives. 

 They expand, they stretch, they unfold with, as it were, 

 a sigh of complete content. The great leaves loll in- 

 dulgently under the light pressure of the elongated 

 bodies of the dragon-flies, which rise, hover, fall suddenly 

 and rise again, or engage in a stern life and death struggle 

 with a predatory foe which fastens tenaciously to their 

 posterior, stiffens itself as they rise and grips the leaf 

 with a sucker-mouth when they sink for rest. 



The Water Lilies love the shallower parts of still, 

 Willow-girt pools, where trout, bream, tench and carp 

 lurk, blob suddenly and lurk again. There the great 

 leaves lie in ringed clusters, curving round each other 

 like the ripples round a flung stone. There the fat buds 

 sway lazily, like gorged babes in sand castles. And 

 there the broad, thick flowers expand their rose, blue, 

 white or yellow petals, when assured that the sun is 

 really out for a day's activity, and is not luring them on 

 by a transitory burst of radiance. 



