LARGE AND SMALL GARDENS 185 



of the brilliant colour and large size that told of per- 

 fect health and vigour, and the large round heads of 

 pure lilac flower carried on strong stalks that must 

 have been fifteen inches high. I never saw it so 

 happy and so beautiful. It is a plant I much admire, 

 and I do the best I can for it on my dry hill; but 

 the conditions of my garden do not allow of any 

 approach to the success of the Wisley plants ; still I 

 have treasured that lesson among many others I have 

 brought away from that good garden, and never fail to 

 advise some such treatment when I see the Ukely home 

 for it in other places. 



Some of the most dehghtful of all gardens are the 

 little strips in front of roadside cottages. They have 

 a simple and tender charm that one may look for in 

 vain in gardens of greater pretension. And the old 

 garden flowers seem to know that there they are seen 

 at their best ; for where else can one see such Wall- 

 flowers, or Double Daisies, or White Rose bushes; 

 such clustering masses of perennial Peas, or such well- 

 kept flowery edgings of Pink, or Thrift, or London 

 Pride? 



Among a good many calls for advice about laying 

 out gardens, I remember an early one that was of 

 special interest. It was the window-box of a factory 

 lad in one of the great northern manufacturing towns. 

 He had advertised in a mechanical paper that he 

 wanted a tiny garden, as full of interest as might be, 

 in a window-box ; he knew nothing — would somebody 



