6 
THE AMATEUR’S FLOWER GARDEN. 
that really concerns ns. A few plans may, however, be useful 
here, as affording suggestions; and we offer them with the 
qualifying remark that every separate garden needs a separate 
plan adapted to its dimensions and position, and therefore 
ready-made plans are but of secondary value. The two grand 
requirements of the design for a garden necessitate a special 
consideration of every special case. And what are those 
two chief requirements ? To my thinking, the plan of a 
garden should be such as to develop to the utmost the capa¬ 
bilities of the site, and represent the particular taste and 
fancy of the owner. Whatever is attempted should be within 
the possibility of a successful result, and no one should make 
difficulties without first counting the cost. At every step the 
wise gardener will ask Nature what she thinks about it. The 
result will be equal avoidance of mistakes and attainment of 
successes. Standard roses planted on grass turf, without any 
space of open soil around them, never thrive. Yet every¬ 
where we see examples of this ridiculous blunder, and 
entrance-courts that might be rich and stately are made 
hideous with the starving sticks ostentatiously stuck about 
the turf. Rhododendrons will not thrive in clay or heavy 
loam, yet everywhere we see them planted with laurels, 
aucubas, and such things, to last only as long as the ball of 
peat planted with them suffices for their support, after which 
they shrivel up, and, unless removed and burnt, disgrace the 
garden. Bedding plants, almost without exception, require 
to be fully exposed to sunshine, yet we see them planted in 
shady places, where they soon become sickly, and cease to 
flower, though those very same shady spots might have been 
made beautiful by means of flowers that need not full ex¬ 
posure to sunshine. Every garden design, and every project 
of garden furnishing, and every item of garden work, should 
be governed by the consideration that it is hard work to fight 
against Nature, and there is never a prospect of a conquest 
worth obtaining. Those who will aim at development of the 
capabilities of a garden will, in spite of the mistakes and 
misfortunes that attend all enterprises, be pretty sure to 
secure enjoyment in the end. Fortunately, if gardening is 
pursued with earnestness, every soil, every situation, the 
breezy hill-side and the smoky city, will be found to have 
some capabilities which art can turn to account by patiently 
accepting the teachings of Nature. 
