134 ALPINES AND BOG-PLANTS 
a very attractive kind—seem to have a biennial constitu- 
tion, or at all events a tendency to miff away. Sedum 
oregonum and Sedwm spathulatum are closely related— 
medium-sized plants, distinctly attractive, with glaucous 
or glossy spathulate leaves, which in the splendens-forms 
of oregonum, are of a gorgeous blood-red. And, in con- 
clusion, I must disclaim any authority for the names I 
give. ‘They are reported as I have had them; I believe 
them to be trustworthy, but I have never yet specialised 
on the Sedums, and I think it unlikely that I ever shall. 
The same may be said of Sempervivum—but in a very 
different, sad, contrite spirit. If I were certain of two 
hundred years of life, I would begin specialising on the 
Sempervivums to-morrow. But one’s life is short, and one’s 
horticultural interests many. It is not possible to run so 
many horses abreast !—if there were room in one’s days 
for all one’s enthusiasms, I would specialise on Iris, Tulip, 
Lily, Sempervivum, Saxifrage, Odontoglossum, Gentian, 
Primula, and goodness knows how many charmers more 
all at once. But, as things stand, a wretched writer of 
books, who is also a worshipper of Orchids, as well as a 
slave of the plants, and an amateur of all stray expensive 
lovelinesses to boot, must perforce put a rein on some, at 
least, of his possible fanaticisms; for, if pain follows on 
desire as certainly as the wheel follows the foot of the ox 
that draws the cart, so do bills inexorably dog the path 
of all who let themselves be snared by the delight of the 
eyes. Therefore I will hasten on past Sempervivum with 
a shamefaced, sidelong glance, adding nothing to what I 
said earlier, apropos of .S. arachnoideum. 
I have already dealt with the small Phyteumas, but 
there are some of the larger kinds which come well into 
the garden. 
The others most desirable are Charmelii, Scheuchzeri, 
and orbiculare. Of these I pin most of my affection to 
