SHRUB BORDERS AND HARDY l-LOWERS. 



7 



Acacia (Robinia hispida) look beautiful trained against a wall; and so do Desmod'.um 

 penduliflorum with its purple blossoms in September, and the Gum Cistus (Cistus ladani- 

 ferus), and other Cistuses. Both the common white Jasmine (Jasminum officinale) and the 

 winter-flowering one (Jasminum nudiflorum) must have a place, also the large yellow 

 Jasminum revolutum, which is hardy in many localities. Garrya elliptica is another beautiful 

 winter-flowering wall shrub and an evergreen as well ; so are the common Pyracantha 

 (Crataegus Pyracantha) w ith its scarlet berries, the Escallonia Philippiana and the less hardy 

 E. macrantha, the Choisya ternata and the Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica), Myrtle and 

 Rosemary, the Magnolia grandiflora with its beautiful glossy leaves, a slow grower at first 

 but greatly benefited by forking the soil and manuring the roots in autumn. It w ould be well 

 to plant Magnolia grandiflora at the back' of a group of the deciduous Magnolias. The 

 winter-flowering Chimonanthus (Calycanthaceae) fragrans, with its variety grandiflora, 

 would do we'll, and so would Bignonia radicans (which covers the wall more quickly if 

 many of the shoots are taken off in spring), also the bright golden blossoms of 

 Forsythia suspensa. The Japanese Hawthorne (Raphiolepis ovata) and the Mountain 

 Sweet (Ceanothus azureus) need winter protection, but the blue Passion-flower (Passiflora 

 caerulea) is quite hardy. 



For those who cling to Roses, the best for the south wall would be Lamarque, with 

 its fine foliage, Reve d'Or, the Banksian Roses, and a strong grower such as Paul's Single 

 White or Aimee Vibert, with a Solarium jasminoides planted close to it. It is well to note 

 that climbing Roses flower much better in light soils if the old wood is cut out rather in the 

 late autumn than spring, and some of the new shoots should be trained horizontally. 



The north-west wall must have the numerous varieties of Honeysuckle, especially the 

 late Dutch Lonicera Periclymenum, and its earlier variety L. belgica, also the Japanese 

 Lonicera japonica and its variegated form. The Austrian Copper Brier, the white Jasmine, 

 Jasminum nudiflorum, Choisya ternata, and Lamarque Rose would all do as well on the 

 shadier wall. So would the double and single varieties of kerria japonica, the summer 

 Clematis of the Jackmanni type, and the sweet-scented C. Vitalba, w hich only does well if 

 much pruned directly after flowering. Eccremocarpus scaber could be used to fill up spaces until 

 the other plants have grown large, and half-hardy climbers, such as the flame-coloured 

 Nasturtium, the blue Plumbago capensis, and the purple Maurandia Barclavana, with its delicate 

 foliage, could be planted for the summer. 



In making new places, by far the most important thing to attend to is that the 

 natural beauties — be they only inequalities of the ground, growth of trees, shrubwood, or 

 hedgerow — should not in any way be destroyed, but used, on the contrary, in every 

 conceivable way to improve the garden. No artificial arrangements of planting or laying 

 out of ground can ever replace the beautiful effects which Nature herself has made. In 

 " Wood and Garden" Miss Jekyll has an admirable description of a piece of ground 

 which is close' to her house, a few sentences of which 1 quote, as they teach the lesson 

 so clearly, and would apply to the indigenous growth of any other soil as well as to tier 

 own Surrey sand : 



"Near my house is a little valley whose planting, wholly done by Nature. I have all my life regarded with 

 the nmsi reverent admiration. . . On the steeply-rising banks art- large groups of [uniper, sonic 

 La.Il, some spreading, some laced and wreathed about with tangles of Honeysuckle. . . . Some ol the 

 groups "I Thorn and Holly are intermingled, and all show beautiful arrangements ol form and colour, such as 

 are never seen in planted places. . . . Throughout the walk . . . only these lew kinds ol trees have 

 keen seen — Juniper, Holly. Thorn, Scotch Fir, and Kirch— and vet there has not keen once the least feeling of 

 monotony, nor . . . could one wish anything to be altered or suppressed or differently grouped. \nu I have 

 always had the same feeling about any quite wild stretch of forest land. Such a bit of w ild forest as this small 

 valley, and the hilly land keyond, are precious lessons in the best kind of tree and shrub planting. No 

 artificial planting can ever equal that oi Nature; but one may learn from ii the great lesson ol the importance 

 of moderation and reserve, ol simplicity of intention and directness ol purpose, and the inestimable value of 

 the quality called 'breadth' in painting. For planting ground is painting a landscape with living tilings; 

 and as I hold that good gardening takes rank within the bounds of die fine arts, so I hold that to plant well, 



