ROCK GARDENS 137 



and they have a becoming background. Beneath one 

 facing south-east, stone^crops and " blue-eyed Mary " 

 form a carpet for violets, musk, clumps of Christmas 

 roses, paeonies, and white lilies, and a few ferns and tiger 

 lilies interspersed are good for such a position. Such 

 wall gardens cannot, however' be considered true rock 

 gardens. They are only helpful where there is either 

 insufficient space or, as in a suburban garden, where the 

 boundary-lines are formal, and there is no suitable place 

 for an arrangement of natural rocks or for banked-up 

 terraces on a large scale. 



Rock Gardens 



We are restricted as regards suitable positions for rock 

 gardens by the proximity of large trees, which rob the 

 small alpines of food and sunlight ; and if buildings are 

 too near we feel a lack of harmony. Such imitation of 

 Nature should be removed from straight lines. 



Where skill in garden design comes in, therefore, is in 

 placing the garden in absolutely harmonious surroundings. 

 And here it may be urged that a careful study of Conder's 

 " Landscape-Gardening in Japan " will help enormously 

 towards developing observation in this. No one looking 

 at a Japanese garden could for one moment think that it 

 was arranged without extreme thought. It is evident 

 that each detail is studied ; but we can see that it is 

 design inspired by Nature. The aim is, as is pointed 

 out under "Water Gardens," to reproduce accurately in 

 miniature, and in true and exact proportion to the size of 

 the place, a mountain, a hedge, or a lake in the natural 

 scenery of their country. In addition, there are the lavv^s 

 and theories by which the garden craft of the Japanese 

 is governed, which are almost beyond the power of a 

 Western mind to unravel. Considering that they have 



