Chapter I: 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 -- Coloured
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