WATER GARDENS 
ORTUNATE indeed is the garden which is beautified by Need of 
} the presence of water, whether it be the silent pool of Water in the 
mystery or a running stream alive with joy, for it is at the Garden 
margins of these that we can place the moisture-loving plants 
and revel in their consequent luxuriant growth; and there are 
so many splendid plants which cannot be successfully grown 
unless their roots are able to reach down to the water level. It 
should be the earnest desire of every garden lover to form some 
water garden, either large enough to be dignified by the name 
of a pond, or, should space and opportunity prevent anything 
so satisfactory, a mere cement tank with stone edges and fed by 
a tap. However small may be the surface of water, if 
judiciously managed, it will prove one of the most interesting 
places in the garden. It will be here that you will catch a 
glimpse of the reflected blue or grey of the changeful sky, and 
looking into the depths obtain a sense of coolness even on the 
warmest day. There is also something about a bright colour, 
when reflected in a pool, that never fails to acquire an added 
beauty in contrast with the blue of the mirrored sky, and 
softened down by the slight movement of the water surface as 
though seen through a veil. 
It is for this effect that I would have some water in every 
garden, and would plant brilliantly-coloured flowers on the 
brink of a tank or pond, so that we may have a picture of 
colour not to be obtained in quite the same way by the growing 
plants themselves. A little insect will come to the surface and 
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