lo The Wild Garden. 



This is a picture of but one of innumerable 

 and infinitely varied scenes in the wilder parts 

 of all northern and temperate regions, at many 

 different elevations. The loveliness and cease- 

 lessly varying charms of such scenes are indeed 

 difficult to describe or imagine ; the essential 

 thing to bear in mind is that the plants that go to 

 form them are hardy, and will thrive in our climate 

 as well as native plants. 



Such beauty may be realized in every wood and , 

 copse and wild shrubbery that screens our " trim 

 gardens." Naturally our woods and wilds have no 

 small loveliness in spring ; we have here and there 

 the Lily-of-the-valley and the Snowdrop wild, and 

 everywhere the exquisite Primrose and Cowslip ; the 

 Bluebell and the Foxglove sometimes take nearly 

 complete possession of whole woods, and turn them 

 into paradises of vernal beauty ; but, with all our 

 treasures in this way, we have no attractions in semi- 

 wild places compared to what it is within our power 

 to create. A certain number of beautiful plants 

 occur amongst the weeds in our woods, and there 

 we stop. But there are many countries with winters 

 as cold as, or colder than, our own, possessing 

 a rich flora ; and by taking the best hardy exotics 

 and establishing them with the best of our own wild 



