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FLORA AND SYLVA. 



THE WILD GARDEN IN SUM- 

 MER AND EARLY AUTUMN. 

 One who studies the nature of his soil 

 can make a lovely spring garden almost 

 anywhere. Even places which have to 

 be mown early in summer may be used 

 for early flowers, — Greek Anemone, 

 Crocus, and Scilla. The slow but lovely 

 birth of our spring helps to this, much as 

 we complain of our spring weather, and 

 only those who have a genius for mis- 

 understanding can fail with the spring 

 wild garden. The summer wild garden 

 is another thing and a much more re- 

 stricted one, as the materials for it are 

 not so easily obtained ; and, moreover, 

 we have the real flower-garden to enjoy 

 in summer and autumn, and so are less 

 dependent on the charms of the wild 

 garden. But there is a good deal to be 

 said for the summer wild garden not- 

 withstanding, and in many country 

 places opportunities occur for carrying 

 it out in an effective way. 



A subject of this sort may often be 

 best discussed from the point of view of 

 an individual instance, and we may state 

 the case of a friend who has a small wood 

 of stately summer-leafing trees beyond 

 and away from the flower-garden and 

 separated from it by a moat ; trees offer- 

 ing cool shade on hot days, in view of 

 the lawn and flower-garden, and yet cut 

 off from them by water. The question 

 is put to me : How should we deal with 

 it as a wild garden ? It is a good valley 

 soil, always an advantage where we deal 

 with the greater herbaceous plants, and 

 it has also the doubtful gain of floods in 

 winter and sometimes in summer. Such 

 places are only fitted for hardy plants, 



and they are often wholly taken up with 

 Briars, Nettles, and plants that take the 

 place of undergrowth in English woods. 

 Apart from the beauty of a wild garden 

 in such conditions, we have to consider 

 its advantages as an "outpost" in plac- 

 ing many plants that cannot be well 

 grown in the garden itself, and among 

 them I know nothing better than the 

 Day Lilies (Hemerocallis). These in- 

 creasealmost too rapidly in many garden 

 soils, and some I have put out are a 

 yearly source of joy to anyone who cares 

 for good effects. The rich colour is seen 

 to greater advantage with grass and in 

 half-shady places than in gardens, where 

 they have a stiff look and a far too short 

 bloom. Now in a half-shady place the 

 bloom is prolonged, and if in a northern 

 aspect it is all the better for them. Some 

 of the great Asiatic and Amour plants, 

 and also some European plants, are so 

 vigorous that if once allowed inagarden 

 they are almost impossible to get rid of. 

 Near water and in rich ground I know 

 nothing better than the Giant Knot- 

 worts {Polygonum) of China and Japan. 

 They are a pest in the garden if anyone 

 is so unwise as to let them in ; but put 

 them down beside water or near a wood, 

 and they give fine colour in autumn and 

 not unattractive flowers. Very graceful, 

 especially near water, is the Rosy Loose- 

 strife (Ly thrum), a superb plant of the 

 autumn, always happy in moist ground 

 and growing very well in water ; in those 

 raised from seed there is an interesting 

 variation in colour. We may find things 

 for our purpose among our native plants, 

 amongst others the "French Willow" 

 (Rpilobium), both the wild kind which 



