THE WILD GARDEN 



from which water runs off readily. In order to 

 do this part of the work well it will be necessary 

 to study your plants carefully before removing 

 them from their home in the wood or field. Aim 

 to make the change as easy as possible for them. 

 This can only be done by imitating natural con- 

 ditions — ^in other words, the conditions under 

 which they have been growing up to the time 

 when you undertake their domestication. 



Not knowing, at the start, the kind of plants 

 our collection will contain, as it grows, we can 

 have no definite plan to work to. Consequently 

 there will be a certain unavoidable lack of system 

 in the arrangement of the wUd garden. But this 

 may possibly be one of the chief charms of it, 

 after a little. A garden formed on this plan — 

 or lack of plan — will seem to have evolved itself, 

 and the utter absence of all formality will make 

 it a more cunning imitation of Nature's methods 

 than it would ever be if we began it with the 

 intention of imitating her. 



Among our early-flowering native plants 

 worthy a place in any garden will be found the 

 Dogwoods, the Plums, the Crab-apple, and the 

 wild Rose. Smaller plants, like the Trillium, 

 the Houstonia, the Bloodroot, the Claytonia and 

 the Hepatica, will work in charmingly in the 

 foreground. Between them can be used many 



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