CHAPTER X 



LILY TANKS 



The work of the garden architect is generally 

 condemned by lovers of the simpler and more natural 

 forms of plant arrangement. In a climate such as ours 

 the use of over-much stonework in the shape of 

 statuary, fountains, vases and balustrading has little to 

 recommend it. But if the designer will give us tanks 

 and sunk basins, in which to grow Lilies and other 

 plants, we cannot feel too grateful. Were it not for 

 tanks, water gardening would be impossible for the many 

 whose grounds do not contain natural ponds or streams. 



Apart, too, from the pleasure which even a small 

 collection of aquatics will afford, there is something 

 truly suggestive in the sunken basin, set like a mirror, 

 to reflect on its calm water surface changing cloud 

 pictures or the lines of some old, moss-grown building. 



In designing tanks the first thought should be to 

 ensure the utmost simplicity, both in the surroundings 

 and in whatever architectural work may be necessary. 

 Artificial substitutes for stone are now so cheap that 

 florid kerbs, angle piers, balustrades and vases may be 

 employed at little more expense than would be 

 occasioned by the use of an absolutely plain margin of 

 the genuine material. In the old gardens of Italy the 

 prodigal use of stone work is justified, not only on 

 account of its suitability to the climate and mode of 

 living, but because the designs were almost invariably 

 good and pure. 



