THE HARDY FLOWER GARDEN 21 
to the majority would be extremely small, and 
instead of affording encouragement and guidance to 
the owner of a confined town garden, a wind- 
swept slope of hungry gravelly soil, a patch of cold 
stiff clay, or of shallow earth over chalk, it would 
but disappoint, discourage and foster the idea 
that all effort to make such places into gardens 
would be vain and futile. 
Let us bear in mind that however favoured and 
well appointed a garden may be, there will be some 
plants that refuse to thrive, baffling sometimes 
even the utmost care of expert cultivators. On 
the other hand, let us look around at our own Native 
Flora, and we shall find that even in the bleakest 
of places, in the hungriest of soils, even to the refuse 
heaps surrounding the mines and works of the 
unlovely Black Country there are some plants that 
survive and even thrive, although left to battle for 
themselves amidst hardships and privations. 
From this we may gather that the great essential 
is to select plants according to environment, and 
whilst we rejoice that very many of our hardy 
perennials are capable of adapting themselves to 
local conditions, and may be said to thrive in any 
garden with ordinary care, we shall do well to keep 
foremost in our minds the thought of a judicious 
choice of plants according to their natural 
preferences. 
It does not follow that because this is the policy 
we advocate we wish to disparage every effort to 
