XI RIVERSIDE LETTERS 85 



My garden has been wildly luxuriant this 

 year, a perfect jungle, but a jungle of flowers, 

 owing to the frequent showers and moderate 

 sunshine. Tying up was out of the question 

 as there was no place anywhere to step 

 amidst the thick growth ; so the plants 

 rambled as they liked and supported one 

 another, indeed they had no room to fall 

 down ; the result being an intermingling of 

 blooms, as varied as it was beautiful. Colum- 

 bines and campanulas grew 'up into the rose 

 bushes ; nasturtiums, cornflowers, poppies, 

 and snapdragons, all of them self-sown 

 plants, filled up every vacant place. Whilst 

 character and individuality was kept up in 

 different places by plants of large habit, such 

 as sea hollies, globe thistles, tall mulleins, 

 and white foxgloves, alstrcemerias, acan- 

 thuses, bocconias, centaurea macrocephala 

 and others ; the last-mentioned is a very 

 picturesque subject, having very large 

 thistle-like flowers, which look rather like 

 bunches of yellow silk growing out of fir 



