234 



FLORA AND SYLVA, 



should not be admitted among choice Alpines. 

 The Phacas, although Alpine plants, are sel- 

 dom seen in gardens, nor does seed, which I 

 have occasionally gathered and brought home, 

 appear to germinate readily. Tephrosia virgi- 

 nica bloomed here once and then died ; it was 

 of no value, and I cannot even remember what 

 it was like. Tephrosia is allied to Galega, and 

 almost all the species want greenhouse or stove 

 treatment. The Petalostemons are other plants 

 of this order which are sometimes offered, but 

 I have never seen them. 



Of the remaining species of hardy Legu- 

 minosa?,Onobrychis (the Sainfoins) contribute, 

 I fancy, nothing to the garden; and, with regard 

 to the Medicks (Medicago), I see it stated in 

 " The English Flower Garden " that there are 

 only two species fit even for rough places. 

 From what I know of the general appearance 

 of these plants, I conceive this to be entirely 

 true; but, on the other hand, many years ago I 

 saw at Kew a plant with something the habit of, 

 but even more neat and floriferous than, Coro- 

 nilla ifierica ^labelled Med/cago marina. Someone 

 has blundered; but on this occasion I should be 

 disposed to back the book against the label. 



I wrote this last paragraph some four or 

 five years ago, and I let it stand now in the 

 hope that someone among the readers of Flora 

 will be not only able, but willing, to throw 

 a little light upon this plant, for, as a matter 

 of fact, I am now disposed to take the label as 

 against the book. When these notes appeared 

 in The Garden they gave rise to some discus- 

 sion, and I recollect that someone wrote and 

 stated with the confidence of personal know- 

 ledge, that the label and not the book was the 

 true Simon Pure. I recollect also writing to ask 

 for a little further information as to this plant, 

 but I do tfo/recollect getting any. It is certain- 

 ly at once remarkable and regrettable that so 

 exceptionally a good rock-plant should have 

 altogether disappeared from cultivation. O. 

 ?narina is found both on the south and the 

 west coasts of France. J. C. L. 



Symmetry certainly owed its origin to vanity and in- 

 dolence; to vanity, in attempting to force the situation 

 to accord with the building, instead of making the 

 building suit the situation; to idleness, because it was 

 more easy to work upon paper,which will allow of any 

 form, than to examine and combine the real objects. 

 — Marquis de Gerardin. 



GROUPING AND MASSING 

 HARDY PLANTS FOR EFFECT. 



In most gardens of any size there are portions 

 which from various causes, such as shortness of 

 labour, distance, or other inconvenience, are a 

 worry to the gardener and a perplexity to his 

 employer. It is becoming more and more the 

 practice to treat such tracts as Wild Gardens; 

 and often abetter plan could hardly be adopted, 

 suiting as it does by its wide range of treat- 

 ment all manner of soils and conditions. It may 

 be " wild " indeed — through the use of native 

 plants, or "wild " only as regards their manner 

 of grouping and general treatment; in fact, the 

 Wild Garden is fast becoming so much in use 

 that some people are prone to regard it as al- 

 most the one aim of garden art, and are at the 

 same time making their wilderness as elaborate 

 as any closely tended pleasure-garden could ever 

 be. To call a garden of this kind " wild " is to 

 mislead, for it is nothing more than a release 

 from the old stiff primness of things and the 

 exchange of one form of grouping for another 

 — better and more beautiful it is true — but in 

 no sense wild, while the elements that go to 

 form it require the same care and attention as 

 though planted in a border. The true idea is a 

 collection of plants amid natural surroundings 

 which will for the most part look after them- 

 selves, and require little care after planting. So 

 planned and ordered the wild garden is not only 

 a boon to many a hard-worked gardener but an 

 added charm in gardens where the same spot 

 was formerly little but a source of unsatisfac- 

 tory expense. The moulding of a Wild Garden 

 from ground previously untouched is not nearly 

 so difficult a task as when the wildness already 

 taken from it has to be restored. It then re- 

 quires not only time and patience but far greater 

 skill to call again into being the banished sense 

 of natural beauty. Much may be done by scat- 

 tering seeds, and Nature herself aids, but weeds 

 always sprout more quickly than things of any 

 value, so that one has to coax back by degrees 

 the spirit of wild beauty, and meantime mould 

 the loveliness that already exists in imagina- 

 tion. Not only is such work fascinating in de- 

 tail but it is satisfactory from every point of 

 view, whether artistic or utilitarian. It is real 

 art ; once laid down the garden is less costly to 

 maintain, and has the charm of being always in 



