22 HARDY PERENNIALS 
make suitable provision for some particular plant 
one desires to grow. 
It is in some instances a part of ordinary practical 
gardening to lighten a heavy soil, to make it more 
porous by the aid of lime rubble, grit, or burnt 
earth ; or to make a dry patch more retentive of 
moisture by the addition of peat, or other material 
that shall act as a sponge. 
To correct sourness and acidity by the use of 
lime or charcoal is simply to practise sound cultural 
methods, but elaborate and expensive excavations 
of natural soil for the purpose of making special 
beds for particular plants is in the main extravagance 
that is seldom justified by the results obtained, 
especially when compared with the outcome of the 
alternative plan of choosing one's plants to suit 
prevailing conditions. 
Perhaps the greatest aid to a judicious selection 
of suitable plants is to study the natural flora of 
the surrounding countryside, and one has only to 
commence the study of our British Wildflowers to 
discover a fascinating and increasingly enjoyable 
pursuit. It is a surprising fact that very many 
gardeners and garden lovers have a very inadequate 
knowledge of the numbers of good plants grown in 
our gardens which are really British Wildflowers, 
whilst the garden varieties and selected forms are 
very many of them closely related to wild types and 
species that we are disposed to consider mere useless 
weeds. 
