62 BOOK OF THE COTTAGE GARDEN 



forces to help her plan — sun and cloud : storm and 

 evening light : mist, haze, and the myriad changing 

 effects of distance and atmosphere. We cannot attempt 

 plain air studies in a curtained room, nor can we entirely 

 copy Nature in the artificial surroundings of a garden. 

 Nevertheless, it is from Nature that we shall learn many 

 valuable lessons in colour combination, lessons that will 

 teach us what to adopt and what to avoid in the grouping 

 of trees and plants in the small garden. 



Take for example any piece of natural scenery, and 

 notice the wonderfully suggestive colour effects it dis- 

 plays. A wood in autumn ! — what harmonies of gold 

 and russet, of browns and silver greys, dying foliage, 

 bracken and mossy branches ! Or again in Spring, 

 when the scene is coloured afresh with vivid greens, the 

 yellow of Primroses, and the azure and white of an 

 April sky. If we would learn the value of contrast, 

 there are lessons innumerable in every yard of cliff-face 

 that fronts the summer sea. Purple and orange lichens 

 spreading like stains over the whiteness of dazzling 

 chalk ; scarlet Poppies with glaucous leaves cushioned 

 on sandstone ledges, or hanging above sheer depths of 

 dusky basalt. Every difficulty which confronts us in 

 the way of floral colour grouping may be solved by a 

 study of Nature's artistry ; the average country lane or 

 the creeping plants in a humble hedgerow will further 

 our knowledge of what may be accomplished in a garden; 

 and still we have the sky, an ever-changing and eternally 

 beautiful band of colour, drawn slowly above us in the 

 infinite realms of space. To say then that we lack in- 

 spiration for our garden pictures is to blind ourselves to 

 what is going on around us. There is no need to fall 

 into stereotyped ways. With thousands of plants from 

 which to choose and the panorama of Nature for a guide, 

 it is incomprehensible that our garden colour should, for 

 the most part, be crude, harsh, and monotonous. 



