2 THE BOOK OF THE WILD GARDEN 



tions permit. Endless opportunities are offered in fields, 

 woods, spinnies, glades between shrubberies and steep 

 rocky slopes, that often form a more fitting home for 

 Alpine and such-like plants than the most skilfully 

 fashioned rock garden, ledges of chalk-cliff, breezy 

 down-land, dells and gorges, lane-sides and hedge-banks 

 and moist peaty spots. The list of plants suitable for 

 naturalising in the wild garden is a lengthy one, for not 

 only are the denizens of the temperate countries of the 

 world available, but the mountain altitudes of the tropics 

 afford many a treasure that proves unaffected by change 

 of latitude. This wide field of selection is, however, not 

 without its dangers for the amateur, since he may be 

 tempted to indulge in so varied a collection that all like- 

 ness to Nature's handiwork is irretrievably lost — and 

 above all things Nature must be his teacher. Bad as is 

 the dotting system in the herbaceous border, in the wild 

 garden it is infinitely worse. Far better too few genera, 

 species and varieties than too many. On Alpine slopes 

 and South African veldt Nature scatters her flowers in 

 wide drifts of one species and this should be our guide 

 in the wild garden. A flower that singly is insignificant, 

 when growing in grouped thousands forms a feature in 

 the landscape. With regard to some of the more 

 vigorous exotics, many of which are totally unsuited to 

 border culture, grouping is often unnecessary, thus a 

 large clump of Polygonum cuspidatum has a fine effect 

 in an isolated position. Such details of grouping will 

 occur to anyone who has reverently studied Nature's 

 scheme of arrangement and if her suggestions are faith- 

 fully carried out the wild garden will possess a charm 

 for the artistic eye that borders and beds however well 

 planted are powerless to rival. Many plants are indeed 

 far happier in wood, meadow or moist dell than they are 

 in even the best cultivated border. Some are of opinion 

 that subjects once planted in the wild garden should be 



