Explanatory 7 



Among my reasons for thinking wild gardening 

 worth practising by all who wish our gardens to 

 be more artistic and delightful are the follow- 

 ing:— 



First, because hundreds of the finest hardy flowers 

 will thrive much better in rough places than ever they 

 did in the old-fashioned border. Even small plants, 

 like the ivy-leaved Cyclamen^ a beautiful plant that 

 we rarely find in perfection in gardens, I have seen 

 perfectly naturalized and spread all over the mossy 

 surface of a thin wood. 



Secondly, because they will look infinitely better 

 than they ever did in formal beds, in consequence of 

 fin&Teaved plant, fern, and flower, and climber, grass 

 and trailing shrub, relieving each other in delightful 

 ways. Many arrangements will prove far more 

 beautiful than any aspect of the old mixed border, 

 or the ordinary t3^e of modern flower-garden. 



Thirdly, because no disagreeable effects result from 

 decay. The raggedness of the old mixed border after 

 the first flush of spring and early summer bloom had 

 passed was intolerable to many, with its bundles of 

 decayed stems tied to sticks. When Lilies are sparsely 

 dotted through masses of shrubSj_their flowers— are 

 admired more than if they were in isolated, showy 

 masses; when they pass out of bloom^ they_are^ un- 

 'noticed amidst "the vegetalionrand not eyesores, as 

 when in rigid" unrelieved tufts in borders, &c. In 

 a semi-wild state the beauty of a fine plant will show 



