It must not be supposed that wild gardening is easy; I am inclined 
to think that to do it worthily needs more knowledge of the ways 
of plants than is wanted for any other kind of garden work. But 
if one may attempt to formulate something in the way of rules, one 
of the first of these should certainly be to observe the necessity of 
moderation and restraint. The sentiment to be created and fostered 
is the charm of a succession of gentle surprises of delight, rather than 
a series of rude shocks of astonishment. This is where we are so 
greatly helped by the indications of nature, for our best conception 
of our subject is engendered by what we have seen in the wild. One 
at a time some lovely effect is noted — of a Dog Rose clambering 
through a Thorne; of a stretch of woodland rosy with its Flowering 
Willow;* of a copse floor blue with Bluebells** or closely studded 
with bosses of Primrose; of quiet stretches of purple-gray or ruddy 
heathland. In these and in many other examples of natui'e's garden- 
ing we see one thing at a time thoroughly well done — it is all large 
and simple. The plants may be only a few or they may be in tens of 
thousands, but they are absolutely rightly placed and in their proper 
environment. 
The character of the ground to be dealt with must needs govern 
the choice of plants. It may be a dry upland field, requiring some 
prehminary planting of trees and bushes, or it may be a cool meadow, 
or even a bit of boggy ground; or a rocky hillside or an old quarry, 
all demanding special treatment. Perhaps the most favorable state 
of things is where a garden joins some half open woodland, when the 
planting can go forward, changing its character almost imperceptibly 
from home to wild. 
It should be observed that the plants that by long association 
with the home garden are fixed in the mind as garden plants, are 
among the least suitable for putting out in the wild, and it so happens 
that, in the case of some kinds, the rule is just reversed in our two 
countries. Thus, the perennial Asters,*** commonly known as the 
Michaelmas Daisies, being wild plants in the States, are there suited 
for the wild garden, while with us they are exclusively garden plants, 
for, except for one species, common in the salt marshes but of no 
horticultural value, the genus is not represented in our island. The 
same may be said of the perennial Sunflowers. But there is no reason 
why the better kinds of the Asters may not come into the wild garden 
in the States; best of all some of the large-bloomed, free branching 
kinds derived from A. Novi Belgi. But here will come in the need 
for restraint, for the numbers of good kinds are now so many that it 
'^'Epilobium angustlJoUum. 
**ScUla feslalis — A gr aphis nutans. 
***Asters Novi-Belgi, Nova Anglice, etc. 
6 
