338 



GARDEN PLANNING 



kind. For each and every plant has individual 

 characteristics of foliage and habit, qualities 

 which are as admirable as the more obvious one 

 of colour. 



Thus in planning a flower garden we must 

 exercise a wise restraint, not over-elaborating 

 details nor multiplying accessories, lest we 

 detract from the beauty of the flower. Only 

 by such means can we secure the truly artistic 

 garden. 



But, says the wise man, "Your mignonette 

 has overgrown your path, and one of your 

 nasturtiums has strayed from its string and 

 fastened on to the rose standard — your garden 

 is untidy." Well, let it be so. I can suffer 

 such untidiness, since I fail to see in what de- 

 gree, if at all, it mars my garden picture. Does 

 not the mignonette break the rigid line of the 

 path, and show us that Nature laughs at our 

 formal boundaries.^ Has not the errant nas- 

 turtium created a gorgeous festoon of flower 

 and foliage which we should never have had 

 courage to originate.^ 



Put the artist into your garden and bid him 

 paint. Will he go to your formal bed of gera- 

 niums and set it on canvas.^ No! Rather will 



