68 TOWN AND WINDOW GARDENING 



flowers. A sunny little patch entirely given up to rock 

 and wall plants would be an interest and education to 

 one's neighbours as well as to one's self ; or a system of 

 tubs and tubes might result in a pond-garden for many 

 kinds of water-flowers ; or one might have a Carnation 

 garden, or a garden where all the Starworts had a chance 

 — there are now so many varieties that well repay for 

 cultivation ; or there could be a collection of the best Violas, 

 Sweet-peas or Columbines ; — any of these would afford 

 the sort of hobby that occupies and makes content the 

 man of leisure as much as it refreshes him who has to 

 work. 



Miniature rock and water gardens are among the latest 

 and most pleasing developments (it would be unfair to call 

 them fashions) of the gardening world, though for obvious 

 reasons they are not well represented at our flower-shows. 

 To begin with, it is impossible to cart about the kind of 

 plants that belong to them, and they are never suitable 

 for exhibition ; unlike the placid Roses and smart Orchids, 

 who are used to being stared at, and appear to like it. 

 But we can enjoy the " Rockies " and the Water-plants at 

 home. One gentleman of my acquaintance — by profession 

 a man of law, by taste a gardener and engineer — has so 

 arranged his small suburban plot with rills and fountains 

 that in it Pond-weeds and Water-lilies are waving and 

 lolling. No Joseph Paxton ruling the length and breadth 

 of the Crystal Palace grounds could be more content than 

 he is with his small domain. 



It is strange how the owners of small suburban gardens, 

 where every inch is of importance, idealize the gardens or 

 their country cousins. Did they but know it, these are 

 often nothing but disappointments. What opportunities 

 are lost for want of enterprise ! Instead of all that might 

 and could be done in them, nothing is done. Bushes and 

 trees and shrubberies are allowed to overgrow ; poultry are 

 considered of more importance than Peonies, or any other 



