Page:The Wild Garden William Robinson.djvu/32

 the great mountains of Europe ; from Greece and Italy and Spain, from the sunny hills of Asia Minor ; from the arctic regions of the great continents — in a word, from almost every region interesting to the traveller he may bring seeds or plants and establish round his home the pleasantest souvenirs of the various scenes he has visited. Moreover, the great merit of permanence belongs to this delightful phase of gardening. Select a wild rough slope, and embellish it with the handsomest and hardiest climbing plants, — say the noble mountain Clematis from Nepal, the sweet C. Flammula from Southern Europe, and the magnificent new hybrid Clematises, (if the earth be rich and there are rocks and banks on which they can be so arranged that they will not be overrun by coarser kinds, and that their masses of shoots may spread and bask in the sun till they glow into sheets of purple of various shades) " Virginian creepers " in variety, Rubus biflorus, with its whitewashed stems, and other kinds ; various species of hardy vines, Aristolochias, Jasmines, Honeysuckles — British and European, wild Roses, etc. Arranged with some judgment at first, such a colony might be left to take care of itself; time would but add to its attractions, and the owner might go away for ten