FINAL CONSIDERATIONS 251 



than to change them. For example, rhododen- 

 drons introduced by means of specially prepared 

 beds, look out of place in a chalk district, and 

 palms and tender shrubs preserved by matting 

 through the winter are incongruous among hardy 

 native plants. Exotics are pleasing only when 

 they can be used on such a scale that they form 

 their own background, and in the frankly artificial 

 parts of the garden they are not amiss. Here 

 it is that the skilful gardener has obtained his 

 bad name for design. He delights to exercise his 

 talents in circumventing climate and soil, with the 

 result that he too frequently violates good taste in 

 what he grows and where he places it. 



While conforming to the demands of soil and 

 climate, any features of the ground ought to be 

 seized eagerly and made the most of. Fine 

 timber, undulations, water in any form, afford 

 opportunities of giving the garden character. 

 Architects, in laying out gardens, are prone to 

 reduce the whole to levelled plateaux before 

 coming to detail. This tends to monotony, and 

 while a certain amount of flat ground is restful 

 and useful, undulations have their own beauty 

 and are worth developing. J. D. Sedding, the 

 most sympathetic architect that ever laid out 

 modern gardens, wrote : " The gardener's first 

 duty in laying out the grounds is to study the 

 site, and not only that part of it upon which the 

 house stands, but the whole site, its aspect, char- 



