BANKS AND SLOPES IN GARDENS 7 



be admitted, will flourish upon a steep bank. But 

 we are no longer dependent on bedding plants; and, 

 as a matter of fact, there are many plants of extreme 

 beauty, both in flower and in growth, which ask for 

 nothing better than a steep bank, even with the 

 lightest and sandiest soil, to grow upon. There are 

 so many, indeed, that the gardener can exercise some 

 choice among them; and he will be wise to cover his 

 bank for the most part with plants or shrubs that are 

 evergreen and of a creeping or lowly habit. A bank 

 clothed thus will be interesting, and even beautiful, 

 in the depth of winter, far more so than any border, 

 and it will be full of blossom both in the spring and 

 for a great part of the summer. The plants should 

 be low growing, because steep banks are naturally 

 suited to low-growing plants. Tall shrubs or plants 

 look awkward and out of scale upon them, and find it 

 diflScult to get enough root hold to keep them firm 

 against the wind or the wash of the rain. A bank 

 that is to be planted should always be well dug, so 

 that the roots of the plants may be able to strike deep 

 with as little resistance as possible; and, if small 

 rocks can be embedded here and there, they will be 

 of great service to the plants in protecting them from 

 drought, and also to the bank itself, in preventing the 

 soil from washing away from it. If rocks are used, 

 they should be driven downwards into the bank, as 

 in ordinary rockwork, and a plant should be placed 

 just below every rock, so that its roots may have 

 the shelter of the rock. Of course the more rocks 



