FLOWERS ON WATER SIDE AND SURFACE 131 



trees and foliage. No rules can be laid down for 

 the latter, except those which apply to any design 

 in which the total effect depends on the way in 

 which the details are distributed." 



It is a pleasure to put such useful thoughts into 

 a more permanent form than that afforded by a 

 journal. The lake in the Royal Gardens, Kew, is 

 one of the most beautiful spots in this beautiful place, 

 and nowhere have I seen such perfect grouping of 

 tree, shrub, and flowers. There are plants such as 

 the herbaceous phlox, which will give the richest 

 effect by the water side, without coming into actual 

 contact with the water, and a group I once saw of 

 PMox Etna was in greater vigour than I ever 

 remember this rich crimson flower. The phlox is 

 never happier than in a moist soil, and excellent 

 effects are possible with the many varieties that 

 may now be obtained. But the colours must be 

 pure and telling ; against the lake margin the softer 

 shades are wholly lost. Looking last autumn from 

 the lower end of the lake at Kew, I saw in the 

 distance a cloud of purple, and not until I 

 approached this flower cloud more closely was I 

 able to see that the finest variety of our loosestrife 

 {Lythrum Salicaria roseum superbiim) was in the full 

 flush of its blossoming — that is the kind of picture 



