1 66 The Wild Garden 



pale rose, no doubt owing to the shade ; and, as they drooped 

 over the graceful leaves, they looked like snowdrops of 

 a faint rosy hue. 



Delphinium, Perennial species. — Tall and beautiful plants, 

 with flowers of many exquisite shades of blue and purple. 

 They are well suited for rich soil in glades, thin shrubberies, 

 or among masses of dwarf shrubs, above which their fine 

 spikes of bloom might here and there arise. 



One of the prettiest effects I have ever seen among natu- 

 ralized plants was a colony of tall Larkspurs (Delphiniums). 

 Portions of old roots of various kinds had been trimmed off 

 where a bed of these plants was being dug, and in the autumn 

 the refuse had been thrown into a near shrubbery, far in among 

 the shrubs and tall trees. Here they grew in half-open spaces, 

 which were so far from the margin that they were not dug 

 and were not seen. When I saw the Larkspurs in flower 

 they were certainly the loveliest things that one could see. 

 They were more beautiful than they are in borders or beds, 

 not growing in such close stiff tufts, and they mingled with 

 and were relieved by the trees above and the shrubs around. 

 This suggests that we might make wild gardens from the 

 mere parings and thinnings of the borders in autumn, where 

 there is a collection of hardy plants. 



Pink, Z)w«;Ams.— Beautiful dwarf mountain plants, with 

 flowers mostly of shades of rose, sometimes sporting into 

 other colours in gardens. The finer alpine kinds would be 

 likely to thrive only on bare stony ground, and with plants 

 of like size. The bright D. neglectus would thrive in any 

 ordinary soil. Some of the kinds in the way of our own 

 D. csesius grow well on old walls and ruins, as does the 

 single carnation ; indeed, many kinds of pink would thrive 

 on old walls far better than on the ground. 



