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    WOOD AND GARDEN

    [Illustration: _Frontispiece._]




    WOOD AND GARDEN

    NOTES AND THOUGHTS, PRACTICAL AND
    CRITICAL, OF A WORKING AMATEUR

    By

    GERTRUDE JEKYLL

    _With 71 Illustrations from Photographs
    by the Author_

    [Illustration]

    Second Edition

    Longmans, Green, and Co.
    39 Paternoster Row, London
    New York and Bombay

    1899

    _All rights reserved_




    Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO.
    At the Ballantyne Press




PREFACE


From its simple nature, this book seems scarcely to need any prefatory
remarks, with the exception only of certain acknowledgments.

A portion of the contents (about one-third) appeared during the years
1896 and 1897 in the pages of the _Guardian_, as "Notes from Garden and
Woodland." I am indebted to the courtesy of the editor and proprietors
of that journal for permission to republish these notes.

The greater part of the photographs from which the illustrations have
been prepared were done on my own ground--a space of some fifteen acres.
Some of them, owing to my want of technical ability as a photographer,
were very weak, and have only been rendered available by the skill of
the reproducer, for whose careful work my thanks are due.

A small number of the photographs were done for reproduction in
wood-engraving for Mr. Robinson's _Garden_, _Gardening Illustrated_, and
_English Flower Garden_. I have his kind permission to use the original
plates.

                                                                 G. J.




CONTENTS


  CHAPTER I

    INTRODUCTORY                                                 1-6

  CHAPTER II

    JANUARY                                                      7-18

    Beauty of woodland in winter -- The nut-walk --
    Thinning the overgrowth -- A nut nursery -- _Iris
    stylosa_ -- Its culture -- Its home in Algeria --
    Discovery of the white variety -- Flowers and branches
    for indoor decoration.

  CHAPTER III

    FEBRUARY                                                    19-31

    Distant promise of summer -- Ivy-berries -- 
    leaves -- _Berberis Aquifolium_ -- Its many merits --
    Thinning and pruning shrubs -- Lilacs -- Removing
    Suckers -- Training _Clematis flammula_ -- Forms of
    trees -- Juniper, a neglected native evergreen --
    Effect of snow -- Power of recovery -- Beauty of colour
    -- Moss-grown stems.

  CHAPTER IV

    MARCH                                                       32-45

    Flowering bulbs -- Dog-tooth Violet -- Rock-garden --
    Variety of Rhododendron foliage -- A beautiful old
    kind -- Suckers on grafted plants -- Plants for
    filling up the beds -- Heaths -- Andromedas -- Lady
    Fern -- _Lilium auratum_ -- Pruning Roses -- Training
    and tying climbing plants -- Climbing and free-growing
    Roses -- The Vine the best wall-covering -- Other
    climbers -- Wild Clematis -- Wild Rose.

  CHAPTER V

    APRIL                                                       46-58

    Woodland spring flowers -- Daffodils in the copse --
    Grape Hyacinths and other spring bulbs -- How best to
    plant them -- Flowering shrubs -- Rock-plants -- Sweet
    scents of April -- Snowy Mespilus, Marsh Marigolds,
    and other spring flowers -- Primrose garden -- Pollen
    of Scotch Fir -- Opening seed-pods of Fir and Gorse --
    Auriculas -- Tulips -- Small shrubs for rock-garden --
    Daffodils as cut flowers -- Lent Hellebores --
    Primroses -- Leaves of wild Arum.

  CHAPTER VI

    MAY                                                         59-76

    Cowslips -- Morells -- Woodruff -- Felling oak timber --
    Trillium and other wood-plants -- Lily of the Valley
    naturalised -- Rock-wall flowers -- Two good wall-shrubs
    -- Queen wasps -- Rhododendrons -- Arrangement for colour
    -- Separate colour-groups -- Difficulty of choosing --
    Hardy Azaleas -- Grouping flowers that bloom together --
    Guelder-rose as climber -- The garden-wall door -- The
    Paeony garden -- Moutans -- Paeony varieties -- Species
    desirable for garden.

  CHAPTER VII

    JUNE                                                        77-88

    The gladness of June -- The time of Roses -- Garden
    Roses -- Reine Blanche -- The old white Rose -- Old
    garden Roses as standards -- Climbing and rambling Roses
    -- Scotch Briars -- Hybrid Perpetuals a difficulty --
    Tea Roses -- Pruning -- Sweet Peas autumn sown --
    Elder-trees -- Virginian Cowslip -- Dividing
    spring-blooming plants -- Two best Mulleins -- White
    French Willow -- Bracken.

  CHAPTER VIII

    JULY                                                        89-99

    Scarcity of flowers -- Delphiniums -- Yuccas --
    Cottager's way of protecting tender plants --
    Alstroemerias -- Carnations -- Gypsophila -- _Lilium
    giganteum_ -- Cutting fern-pegs.

  CHAPTER IX

    AUGUST                                                     100-111

    Leycesteria -- Early recollections -- Bank of choice
    shrubs -- Bank of Briar Roses -- Hollyhocks -- Lavender
    -- Lilies -- Bracken and Heaths -- The Fern-walk --
    Late-blooming rock-plants -- Autumn flowers -- Tea Roses
    -- Fruit of _Rosa rugosa_ -- Fungi -- Chantarelle.

  CHAPTER X

    SEPTEMBER                                                  112-124

    Sowing Sweet Peas -- Autumn-sown annuals -- Dahlias --
    Worthless kinds -- Staking -- Planting the rock-garden
    -- Growing small plants in a wall -- The old wall --
    Dry-walling -- How built -- How planted -- Hyssop -- A
    destructive storm -- Berries of Water-elder -- Beginning
    ground-work.

  CHAPTER XI

    OCTOBER                                                    125-143

    Michaelmas Daisies -- Arranging and staking --
    Spindle-tree -- Autumn colour of Azaleas -- Quinces --
    Medlars -- Advantage of early planting of shrubs --
    Careful planting -- Pot-bound roots -- Cypress hedge
    -- Planting in difficult places -- Hardy flower border
    -- Lifting Dahlias -- Dividing hardy plants --
    Dividing tools -- Plants difficult to divide --
    Periwinkles -- Sternbergia -- Czar Violets -- Deep
    cultivation for _Lilium giganteum_.

  CHAPTER XII

    NOVEMBER                                                   144-157

    Giant Christmas Rose -- Hardy Chrysanthemums --
    Sheltering tender shrubs -- Turfing by inoculation --
    Transplanting large trees -- Sir Henry Steuart's
    experience early in the century -- Collecting fallen
    leaves -- Preparing grubbing tools -- Butcher's Broom
    -- Alexandrian Laurel -- Hollies and Birches -- A
    lesson in planting.

  CHAPTER XIII

    DECEMBER                                                   158-170

    The woodman at work -- Tree-cutting in frosty weather
    -- Preparing sticks and stakes -- Winter Jasmine --
    Ferns in the wood-walk -- Winter colour of evergreen
    shrubs -- Copse-cutting -- Hoop-making -- Tools used
    -- Sizes of hoops -- Men camping out -- Thatching with
    hoop-chips -- The old thatcher's bill.

  CHAPTER XIV

    LARGE AND SMALL GARDENS                                    171-187

    A well done villa-garden -- A small town-garden -- Two
    delightful gardens of small size -- Twenty acres
    within the walls -- A large country house and its
    garden -- Terrace -- Lawn -- Parterre -- Free garden
    -- Kitchen garden -- Buildings -- Ornamental orchard
    -- Instructive mixed gardens -- Mr. Wilson's at Wisley
    -- A window garden.

  CHAPTER XV

    BEGINNING AND LEARNING                                     188-199

    The ignorant questioner -- Beginning at the end -- An
    example -- Personal experience -- Absence of outer
    help -- Johns' "Flowers of the Field" -- Collecting
    plants -- Nurseries near London -- Wheel-spokes as
    labels -- Garden friends -- Mr. Robinson's "English
    Flower-Garden" -- Mr. Nicholson's "Dictionary of
    Gardening" -- One main idea desirable -- Pictorial
    treatment -- Training in fine art -- Adapting from
    Nature -- Study of colour -- Ignorant use of the word
    "artistic."

  CHAPTER XVI

    THE FLOWER-BORDER AND PERGOLA                              200-215

    The flower-border -- The wall and its occupants --
    _Choisya ternata_ -- Nandina -- Canon Ellacombe's
    garden -- Treatment of colour-masses -- Arrangement of
    plants in the border -- Dahlias and Cannas -- Covering
    bare places -- The Pergola -- How made -- Suitable
    climbers -- Arbours of trained Planes -- Garden
    houses.

  CHAPTER XVII

    THE PRIMROSE GARDEN                                        216-220

  CHAPTER XVIII

    COLOURS OF FLOWERS                                         221-228

  CHAPTER XIX

    THE SCENTS OF THE GARDEN                                   229-240

  CHAPTER XX

    THE WORSHIP OF FALSE GODS                                  241-248

  CHAPTER XXI

    NOVELTY AND VARIETY                                        249-255

  CHAPTER XXII

    WEEDS AND PESTS                                            256-262

  CHAPTER XXIII

    THE BEDDING FASHION AND ITS INFLUENCE                      263-270

  CHAPTER XXIV

    MASTERS AND MEN                                            271-279

    INDEX                                                          280




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


    FRONTISPIECE                                          _face title_

    A WILD JUNIPER                                   _face page_    19

    SCOTCH FIRS THROWN ON TO FROZEN WATER BY SNOWSTORM    "         27

    OLD JUNIPER, SHOWING FORMER INJURIES                  "         29

    JUNIPER, LATELY WRECKED BY SNOWSTORM                  "         29

    GARDEN DOOR-WAY WREATHED WITH CLEMATIS GRAVEOLENS     "         39

    COTTAGE PORCH WREATHED WITH THE DOUBLE WHITE ROSE
    (_R. alba_)                                           "         39

    WILD HOP, ENTWINING WORMWOOD AND COW-PARSNIP          "         43

    DAFFODILS IN THE COPSE                                "         48

    MAGNOLIA STELLATA                                     "         50

    DAFFODILS AMONG JUNIPERS WHERE GARDEN JOINS COPSE     "         51

    TIARELLA CORDIFOLIA                                   "         53

    HOLLYHOCK, PINK BEAUTY. (_See page 105_)              "         53

    TULIPA RETROFLEXA                                     "         55

    LATE SINGLE TULIPS, BREEDERS AND BYBLOEMEN            "         55

    TRILLIUM IN THE WILD GARDEN                           "         61

    RHODODENDRONS WHERE THE COPSE AND GARDEN MEET         "         65

    GRASS WALKS THROUGH THE COPSE                         "         66

    RHODODENDRONS AT THE EDGE OF THE COPSE                "         68

    SOUTH SIDE OF DOOR, WITH CLEMATIS MONTANA
    AND CHOISYA                                           "         72

    NORTH SIDE OF THE SAME DOOR, WITH CLEMATIS
    MONTANA AND GUELDER-ROSE                              "         72

    FREE CLUSTER-ROSE AS STANDARD IN A COTTAGE GARDEN     "         77

    DOUBLE WHITE SCOTCH BRIAR                             "         81

    PART OF A BUSH OF ROSA POLYANTHA                      "         82

    GARLAND-ROSE SHOWING NATURAL WAY OF GROWTH            "         82

    LILAC MARIE LEGRAYE (_See page 23_)                   "         84

    FLOWERING ELDER AND PATH FROM GARDEN TO COPSE         "         84

    THE GIANT LILY                                        "         96

    CISTUS FLORENTINUS                                    "        101

    THE GREAT ASPHODEL                                    "        101

    LAVENDER HEDGE AND STEPS TO THE LOFT                  "        105

    HOLLYHOCK, PINK BEAUTY                                "        105

    SOLOMON'S SEAL IN SPRING, IN THE UPPER PART
    OF THE FERN-WALK                                      "        107

    THE FERN-WALK IN AUGUST                               "        107

    JACK (_See page 79_)                                  "        117

    THE "OLD WALL"                                        "        117

    ERINUS ALPINUS, CLOTHING STEPS IN ROCK-WALL           "        121

    BORDERS OF MICHAELMAS DAISIES                         "        126

    PENS FOR STORING DEAD LEAVES                          "        150

    CAREFUL WILD-GARDENING--WHITE FOXGLOVES AT
    THE EDGE OF THE FIR WOOD. (_See page 270_)            "        150

    HOLLY STEMS IN AN OLD HEDGE-ROW                       "        153

    WILD JUNIPERS                                         "        154

    WILD JUNIPERS                                         "        156

    THE WOODMAN                                           "        158

    GRUBBING A TREE-STUMP                                 "        161

    FELLING AND GRUBBING TOOLS (_See page 150_)           "        161

    HOOP-MAKING IN THE WOODS                              "        167

    HOOP-SHAVING                                          "        169

    SHED-ROOF, THATCHED WITH HOOP-CHIP                    "        169

    GARLAND-ROSE WREATHING THE END OF A TERRACE WALL      "        178

    A ROADSIDE COTTAGE GARDEN                             "        185

    A FLOWER-BORDER IN JUNE                               "        200

    PATHWAY ACROSS THE SOUTH BORDER IN JULY               "        202

    OUTSIDE VIEW OF THE BRICK PERGOLA SHOWN
    AT PAGE 214, AFTER SIX YEARS' GROWTH                  "        202

    END OF FLOWER-BORDER AND ENTRANCE OF PERGOLA          "        210

    SOUTH BORDER DOOR AND YUCCAS IN AUGUST                "        210

    STONE-BUILT PERGOLA WITH WROUGHT OAK BEAMS            "        214

    PERGOLA WITH BRICK PIERS AND BEAMS OF ROUGH OAK       "        214

    EVENING IN THE PRIMROSE GARDEN                        "        217

    TALL SNAPDRAGONS GROWING IN A DRY WALL                "        251

    MULLEINS GROWING IN THE FACE OF DRY WALL
    (_See "Old Wall," page 116_)                          "        251

    GERANIUMS IN NEAPOLITAN POTS                          "        267

    SPACE IN STEP AND TANK-GARDEN FOR LILIES,
    CANNAS, AND GERANIUMS                                 "        268

    HYDRANGEAS IN TUBS, IN A PART OF THE SAME GARDEN      "        268

    MULLEIN (VERBASCUM PHLOMOIDES) AT THE EDGE
    OF THE FIR WOOD                                       "        270

    A GRASS PATH IN THE COPSE                             "        270




WOOD AND GARDEN




CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY


There are already many and excellent books about gardening; but the love
of a garden, already so deeply implanted in the English heart, is so
rapidly growing, that no excuse is needed for putting forth another.

I lay no claim either to literary ability, or to botanical knowledge, or
even to knowing the best practical methods of cultivation; but I have
lived among outdoor flowers for many years, and have not spared myself
in the way of actual labour, and have come to be on closely intimate and
friendly terms with a great many growing things, and have acquired
certain instincts which, though not clearly defined, are of the nature
of useful knowledge.

But the lesson I have thoroughly learnt, and wish to pass on to others,
is to know the enduring happiness that the love of a garden gives. I
rejoice when I see any one, and especially children, inquiring about
flowers, and wanting gardens of their own, and carefully working in
them. For the love of gardening is a seed that once sown never dies, but
always grows and grows to an enduring and ever-increasing source of
happiness.

If in the following chapters I have laid special stress upon gardening
for beautiful effect, it is because it is the way of gardening that I
love best, and understand most of, and that seems to me capable of
giving the greatest amount of pleasure. I am strongly for treating
garden and wooded ground in a pictorial way, mainly with large effects,
and in the second place with lesser beautiful incidents, and for so
arranging plants and trees and grassy spaces that they look happy and at
home, and make no parade of conscious effort. I try for beauty and
harmony everywhere, and especially for harmony of colour. A garden so
treated gives the delightful feeling of repose, and refreshment, and
purest enjoyment of beauty, that seems to my understanding to be the
best fulfilment of its purpose; while to the diligent worker its
happiness is like the offering of a constant hymn of praise. For I hold
that the best purpose of a garden is to give delight and to give
refreshment of mind, to soothe, to refine, and to lift up the heart in a
spirit