THE GARDEN AND THE FLOWER 337 



whether he be professional or amateur — and I 

 trust that this book may encourage the owners 

 of many gardens to be their own designers 

 — I wish to plead the cause of the flower, 

 and to claim for it a supreme position in the 

 garden. 



Were it not that we have flowers I question 

 whether many of us would be garden owners. 

 But having such material in abundance and 

 endless variety, it is surely culpable to treat 

 it as a secondary and subordinate thing. Thus 

 the aim of the garden designer fails if the result 

 of his efforts is something in which a dozen 

 incongruous objects claim notice, each and 

 every one of them competing with the flower. 



Not only must we give our flowers the sunny 

 positions where they will thrive under the best 

 conditions for their welfare, but we must see 

 that their other needs are met in such matters 

 as soil and shelter. We must also provide them 

 with harmonious surroundings, and a back- 

 ground, whether turf or foliage, to give due 

 value to their colours; and, before all things, we 

 must allow them to grow as nature intended, 

 not stiffly in rows, nor pinched into uniformity 

 of shape and size, but after the manner of their 



