70 THE WILD GARDEN. 
apart wholly from the plants that naturally frequent such 
places or which are usually placed there. With these hardy 
plants too, a variety of the nobler hardy ferns would thrive, 
as the Struthiopteris; the finer types of the Umbellate order 
(Ferula and others) would also come in well here. We will 
now consider the plants that naturally belong to such situa- 
tions so to say. 
Water-plants of northern and temperate regions, associated 
with those of our own country, add much beauty to a garden 
if well selected and well grown. A great deal of variety 
may be added to the margins, and here and there to the sur- 
face, of ornamental water, by the use of a good collection of 
hardy aquatics arranged with taste; but this has not yet 
been fairly attempted. Usually we see the same monotonous 
vegetation all round the margin if the soil be rich; in some 
cases, where the bottom is of gravel, there is little or no 
vegetation, but an unbroken ugly line of washed earth be- 
tween wind and water. In others, water-plants accumulate 
till they are only an eyesore—not submerged plants like 
Anacharis, but such as the Water Lilies when matted to- 
gether. A well-developed plant or group of plants of the 
queenly Water Lily, with its large leaves and noble flowers, 
is an object not surpassed by any other in our gardens; but 
when it increases and runs over the whole of a piece of water 
—thickening together and being in consequence weakened— 
and water-fowl cannot make their way through it, then even 
this ‘plant loses its charms. No garden water, however, 
should be without a few fine plants or groups of the Water 
Lily. Where the bottom does not allow of the free develop- 
ment of the plant, earth might be accumulated in the spot 
