What I have said above refers to moderate-sized
places, but I think I can especially help people with
regard to much smaller gardens, which I have so often
seen ruined by coarse-growing shrubs, not one of which
should be admitted. I should not allow anything
coarser-growing than the green and variegated Box,
the golden Privet, Bay-tree (which can be constantly
cut back), Daturas, Viburnum plicatum, Irish Yews,
Cotoneaster grown as a bush, Choisya ternata, Berberises,
JBuddlea globosa. If you have room, and can get the
special soil, Azaleas and other of the smaller American
plants are very desirable. I may mention now that for a
very small garden no turf is advisable. Do not try to
copy the Manor House garden, but rather take the
cottage garden for a model, improving and beautifying it.
Make the background of shrubs take the place of the.
background of cabbages of the cottager, and have only
one paved path down the middle, and a narrow earth
one round the outside. If you have a little spare space
on one side or at the back, then turf that over and plant
it with Apple-trees, spring and autumn bulbs, Columbines
170 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN
for summer, together with Snapdragons and Foxgloves —
all of which grow well in grass. The grass must then
only be mown once a year, in July.
Many of the houses built round the neighbourhood of
London in the early part of the century were built close to
the road, and have a ludicrous and pompous approach of
a drive passing the front door, with two gates — one for
entrance and one for exit. Surely this is a great waste
of ground with no proportionate advantage. Most places
of this kind would certainly be improved if the two gates
were blocked up, the drive done away with, and a straight
paved or bricked path made from the door to the road,
with a shelter of wood, or even of corrugated iron, painted
to match the house, and creepers planted along the posts
that support it. The space on either side of this path
could be planted with low-growing shrubs, or in some
instances laid with turf.
In spite of all the charming things Mr. Eobinson says
about it, ' wild gardening ' is, I am sure, a delusion and
a snare. I live near one of the most beautiful so-called
wild gardens in England, but it requires endless care,
and is always extending in all directions in search of
fresh soil. What is possible is to have the appearance
of a wild garden in consequence of the most judicious
planting, with consummate knowledge and experience of
the plants that will do well in the soil if they are just a
little assisted at the time of planting. I saw the other
day the most lovely Surrey garden I know, though it is
without any peculiar natural advantages from the lie of
the land — a flat piece of ground on the top of a hill, a
copse wood of Spanish Chestnut, Birch, Holly, and Fir,
Even in the original thinning of the wood the idea had
been formulated that certain plants and trees had better
be kept together as they grew, and broad open spaces
had been cut, broken up with groups of Holly for
SEPTEMBER 171
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What I have said above refers to moderate-sized
places, but I think I can especially help people with
regard to much smaller gardens, which I have so often
seen ruined by coarse-growing shrubs, not one of which
should be admitted. I should not allow anything
coarser-growing than the green and variegated Box,
the golden Privet, Bay-tree (which can be constantly
cut back), Daturas, Viburnum plicatum, Irish Yews,
Cotoneaster grown as a bush, Choisya ternata, Berberises,
JBuddlea globosa. If you have room, and can get the
special soil, Azaleas and other of the smaller American
plants are very desirable. I may mention now that for a
very small garden no turf is advisable. Do not try to
copy the Manor House garden, but rather take the
cottage garden for a model, improving and beautifying it.
Make the background of shrubs take the place of the.
background of cabbages of the cottager, and have only
one paved path down the middle, and a narrow earth
one round the outside. If you have a little spare space
on one side or at the back, then turf that over and plant
it with Apple-trees, spring and autumn bulbs, Columbines
170 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN
for summer, together with Snapdragons and Foxgloves —
all of which grow well in grass. The grass must then
only be mown once a year, in July.
Many of the houses built round the neighbourhood of
London in the early part of the century were built close to
the road, and have a ludicrous and pompous approach of
a drive passing the front door, with two gates — one for
entrance and one for exit. Surely this is a great waste
of ground with no proportionate advantage. Most places
of this kind would certainly be improved if the two gates
were blocked up, the drive done away with, and a straight
paved or bricked path made from the door to the road,
with a shelter of wood, or even of corrugated iron, painted
to match the house, and creepers planted along the posts
that support it. The space on either side of this path
could be planted with low-growing shrubs, or in some
instances laid with turf.
In spite of all the charming things Mr. Eobinson says
about it, ' wild gardening ' is, I am sure, a delusion and
a snare. I live near one of the most beautiful so-called
wild gardens in England, but it requires endless care,
and is always extending in all directions in search of
fresh soil. What is possible is to have the appearance
of a wild garden in consequence of the most judicious
planting, with consummate knowledge and experience of
the plants that will do well in the soil if they are just a
little assisted at the time of planting. I saw the other
day the most lovely Surrey garden I know, though it is
without any peculiar natural advantages from the lie of
the land — a flat piece of ground on the top of a hill, a
copse wood of Spanish Chestnut, Birch, Holly, and Fir,
Even in the original thinning of the wood the idea had
been formulated that certain plants and trees had better
be kept together as they grew, and broad open spaces
had been cut, broken up with groups of Holly for
SEPTEMBER 171