68 THE WILD GARDEN. 
imprisoned water, in fact; and although we obtain breadth 
by confining water, still, in many cases, we prefer the brook, or 
water in motion, as it ripples between mossy rocks or flower- 
fringed banks. The brook-margin, too, offers opportunities to 
lovers of hardy flowers which few other situations can rival. 
Hitherto we have only used in and near such places aquatic 
or bog plants, and of these usually a very meagre selection ; 
but the improvement of the brook-side will be most readily 
effected by planting the banks with hardy flowers, making 
it a wild garden, in fact. A great number of our finest herb- 
aceous plants, from Irises to Globe-flowers, thrive best in the 
moist soil found in such positions ; numbers of hardy flowers, 
also, that do not in nature prefer such soil, would exist in 
perfect health in it. The wild garden illustrated by the 
water-side will give us some of the most charming garden 
pictures. Land plants would have this advantage over water 
ones, that we could fix their position, whereas water plants 
are apt to spread everywhere, and sometimes one kind 
exterminates the rest; therefore it might, in many cases, be 
better not to encourage the water or water-side vegetation, but 
to form little colonies of hardy flowers along the banks. The 
plants, of course, should be such as would grow freely among 
Grass and take care of themselves. If different types of 
vegetation were encouraged on each side of the water, the 
effect would be all the better. The common way of repeat- 
ing a favourite plant at intervals would spoil all: groups of 
free hardy things, different in each place as one passed, would 
be best; Day Lilies; Phloxes, which love moisture; Irises, 
mainly the beardless kinds, which love wet places, but all 
the fine Germanica forms will do; Gunnera; Aster; Ameri- 
