86 GARDENS PAST AND PRESENT 



tufts of polished, marbled leaves, showing now 

 and again their purple lining, were almost more 

 beautiful than the flowers in whose room they had 

 come. These had spread themselves as they would 

 in every mossy hollow of the bank, or cranny 

 amongst the knotted roots. It was a bit of wild 

 gardening scarcely to be surpassed for autumn 

 and winter effect, while it was entirely in accord 

 with Nature. 



Be it only a ditch, perhaps a mere drain to carry 

 off surface water, which is too near to garden 

 or home paddock to be tolerated as it is, why 

 should it not be redeemed from unsightliness by 

 a little careful planting along its bank. Put in, 

 here and there only be generous of space a root 

 stock or two of the broad-leaved Californian saxi- 

 frage (S. peltata), a clump of globe flowers, Euro- 

 pean or Asiatic as you will, but preferably the 

 European, which is sulphur-coloured, not orange, 

 or a few roots of double meadow-sweet, a lovely 

 daughter of our wild queen of the meadows. One 

 April day you will pass that way and tall heads 

 of pink and white flowers like some dainty cluster 

 of enamelled mosaic will take you unawares ; they 

 are the forerunners of the handsome shield-like 

 leaves of the saxifrage, which makes a noble pic- 

 ture in any damp spot all through the summer. 

 Later on, the pale yellow globes of the Trollius, or 

 the creamy feathers of the meadow-sweet, will have 

 transformed the ugly ditch into a beautiful bit of 

 wild gardening. 



Nothing is more lovely, again, than a tall hedge 

 of mingled holly and oak and ivy; there is such 



