664 



THE NATURE BOOK 



charm. The dying glory of its autumn 

 leaves, the golden glow of Coneflowers and 

 Sunflowers (which — strange anomaly! — are 

 not unhappy in the shade), Aconites and 

 Japanese Anemones, Starworts and Moon 

 Daisies : these and more invest it with 



a house. " Men come to build stately 

 sooner than to garden finely." The 

 digging and delving and subsequent plant- 

 ing had been a long labour of love. The 

 soil was hght and sandy, so there was no 

 need to gravel the paths ; these were dry 



THE WILD GARDEN, WISLEY. 



Photograph by F, Mason Good^ IViJichjield, 



a charm that casts a magic glamour. The 

 successful wild garden is full of hidden 

 beauty. The walks wind with seductive 

 curves, exposing here and hiding there, 

 now overgrown by untrammelled Rose, 

 now with fragi-ant fringe of flowering bush. 

 Grassy ways with moss-grown banks lead 

 on to richer beauties, themselves, weU 

 clothed with seedling fern and self-sown 

 flower, compelling admiration. 



The most delightful wild garden I ever 

 knew was fashioned out of a small wood- 

 land where the dusky tops of giant Scots 

 Firs towered high above the rugged boles, 

 casting a gloom in winter, a sombreness 

 even in summer. The garden had grown 

 gradually, as aU true gardens must. One 

 cannot make a garden as one would build 



even in the depths of winter. There 

 were surprises at every turn. Now and 

 again each path would open upon a little 

 green, safely hidden by Bamboos, by 

 Rhododendron and other close-growing 

 shrubs. Winter Aconites and hardy Cycla- 

 men, Snowdrops and Crocuses, dappled 

 the mossy grass with early colour, while 

 round about the shrubbery fringe were 

 little colonies of Daffodils, Snowflakes, 

 Japanese Primroses, and other flowers 

 in which the wild garden delights. But 

 the fern dells were its beauty spots ; 

 these had been dug out some five feet deep, 

 and the excavated soil formed high banks 

 on either side of the narrow path. These 

 were masses of pleasant leaf and occasional 

 flower, formed chiefly of ferns, London 



