Preface xv 



where they will thrive without further care. It has 

 nothing to do with the old idea of the 'Wilderness.' 

 It does not mean the picturesque garden, for a 

 garden may be highly picturesque, and yet in every 

 part the result of ceaseless care. 



What it does mean is best explained by the winter 

 Aconite flowering under a grove of naked trees in 

 February ; by the Snowflake, tall and numerous in 

 meadows b}- the Thames side; by the blue Lupine 

 dyeing an islet with its purple in a Scotch river; and 

 by the blue Apennine Anemone staining an English 

 wood blue before the coming of our blue bells. 

 Multiply these instances a thousandfold, given by 

 many types of plants, from countries colder than ours, 

 and one may get a just idea of the 'Wild Garden.' 

 Some have thought of it as a garden run wild, or 

 sowing annuals in a muddle; whereas it does not 

 interfere with the regulation flower garden at all. 



I wish it to be kept distinct in the mind from the 

 \'arious sorts of hardy plant cultivation in groups, beds, 

 and borders, in which good gardening and good taste 

 may produce many happy effects; distinct from the 

 rock garden in its many aspects — all asking for skill 

 and care; from the borders reserved for choice hardy 

 flowers of all kinds; from the hardy sub-tropical 

 garden or that of hardy plants of fine form; from 

 the ordinary type of ' Spring Garden ; ' and from our 



