CHAPTER VIII 



SMALL WATER GARDENS 



In quite small gardens, much may be achieved by the 

 use of tubs in which to grow collections of aquatics. 

 Ingenuity, and above all the exercise of good taste, will 

 overcome many obstacles, and there are few places in 

 which a small water garden such as is contemplated 

 in this chapter may not be successfully arranged. 



At first sight, a tub may not seem a particularly 

 desirable object in which to grow even a small Water- 

 Lily, but when it is realised that the tubs may help to form 

 part of a definite garden scheme, and that their identity 

 will be carefully concealed, possibilities of no mean 

 order are suggested. I have in mind a small garden of 

 bog and water, which has been constructed at very 

 small cost, and which might well serve as a model for 

 others. Practically no skilled labour was required in 

 its making, whilst the area it occupies — some fourteen 

 yards by three — could easily be spared in the majority 

 of gardens. Few would imagine on seeing this charm- 

 ing spot, that it has only been in existence a short time, 

 or that the site was formerly a strip of waste ground 

 over-run with nettles and coarse grass. With slight 

 modification this water garden could be made almost 

 anywhere, so that I shall describe it in detail. 



At the end of the flower garden, a small planting of 

 mixed shrubs occurs ; these are of the usual type, and 

 consist chiefly of laurels. Along one side of this 

 shrubbery a pathway led down to a small paddock, 



