1870.] "MY GARDEN" IN WINTER. 13 



plants, making up my winter bedding-out. I am naturally anxious 

 to look more gay than my neighbours, though they are fast catching 

 my winter-gardening mania ; and I want especially to show the passers- 

 by that I have sufficient versatility of invention to have something 

 fresh in design year by year. Even now, in these dull leaden months 

 of autumn, I take a pleasure in noting the many pleased and wonder- 

 ing faces who gaze into my garden, and who, whilst admiring its 

 appearance, strive vainly to guess what this row of plants, or that lot 

 in a bed, may be. And I can observe the same faces coming from 

 week to week to take a peep how things are progressing as the spring 

 months advance, when my garden shall be full of flowers, and gay 

 and pleasing to the eye. I like hardy foliage-plants, for winter work 

 especially ; they look nice at all times, but how much more so when 

 all else seems so sterile ! Just inside my entrance-gate I have a border 

 edged with Sempervivums, Montanum and Californicum alternately, 

 and very pretty they look ; next this a line of Echeveria secunda 

 glauca,its greyish-white foliage looking prominent in the darkest weather 

 — a capital thing for winter work, as it is quite hardy. Then for contrast 

 the dark-leaved Ajuga reptans, a very useful plant for foliage work, and 

 one that is almost essential, from the peculiar hue of its foliage. Be- 

 hind this is a row of the Golden Feather Pyrethrum, a fine acquisition 

 to the flower-garden, and for winter and spring work especially ; then 

 I have a background of crimson-stalked Beet, a fine hardy foliage- 

 plant, that will show off the bright golden hue of the Pyrethrum to the 

 best advantage. A little farther in, just under the front of my cottage, 

 runs a narrow border which I have edged with a broad margin of that 

 prettiest of all the Sedums — acre aureum, or the golden-tipped form 

 of the common Stonecrop, S. acre. What a gem this is for 

 the hardy winter garden ! every one of its little points seems to 

 glisten in the light as though it were tinted with gold ; whilst for 

 vases, pans, or rockwork, it is invaluable. Then, next to this, I have 

 a row of the red-foliagecl Oxalis corniculata rubra. This serves as an 

 excellent set-off to the gold of the Stonecrop. I use late seedling plants 

 for the purpose, as they retain their foliage much more perfectly 

 during the winter months. Next this, at the back of it, is a line of 

 Myosotis Azorica, a very dwarf light-blue variety of that pretty family 

 of Alpine plants. I rather fear, from present appearances, that it is 

 scarcely hardy enough to stand the rigour of winter ; but as all its 

 young growth remains fresh and green, there is still hope. On the 

 opposite side of the walk a broad border required filling with more 

 material than my foliage-plants would cover, so I judiciously intro- 

 duced flowering plants at the back, beginning from behind with Young's 

 blood Wallflower, and then a line of strong plants of Viola cornuta alba, 



