22 ALPINES AND BOG-PLANTS 
in certain seasons, between tracts of barrenyears.) Watsone 
is a straggler, akin to parviflora, but bigger and far 
hardier, with round snow-white balls, whose central cone 
is ringed in by a circle of vivid scarlet anthers. Glauca 
is a small American shrub, loving wet places, and pro- 
ducing its creamy, fragrant blossoms in July and August. 
It has, so far, though a success, been less of a joy to me 
than Kobus, stellata, and Watsoni, which all do wonders. 
Kobus is my particular joy. It is an astonishingly dense, 
vigorous shrub, rapidly growing on into a tree ; its flowers 
are not enormous, nor very solid, but are borne in the 
most splendid abundance when the tree gets on in years. 
It is a thing of obviously first-class merit, and I wonder 
that it has not been more widely proclaimed. As for 
salicifolia, it is due to have remarkable purity and 
brilliance and beauty. So far, though, my healthy plants 
are but babies, and will not flower for some years. All I 
can say at present is that every part of the plant— 
leaves, stem, and bark—are deliciously fragrant. And, to 
conclude, any light cool soil, peaty or not, will suit all 
these Magnolias. 
Remains now only the race of Knotweeds, to which 
duty, rather than affection, bids me concede a place in my 
gardens. I make an exception, however, in favour of 
Polygonum vaccinifolium, which is a rock-garden plant 
of very high value, as all who grow it can bear witness— 
a trailing, rock-hugging mat of woody, small-leafed 
branches which in autumn are covered with an inexhaust- 
ible profusion of erect little rosy spikes four inches high 
or so. Its generosity is no less valuable than its time of 
blooming, and its exemplary ease and good temper no 
less conspicuous than either. It grows eagerly in almost 
any soil, in any open aspect, and multiplies readily when 
pulled to pieces. As small as this is the linear-leaved 
P. Emodi, which, however, does not spread so fast or so 
