every imaginable annual, broken by soft-toned plants like Autumnal 

 Nepeta, Heliotrope, and Sweet Alyssum, and of the long Aspect of 

 alley (of which a sketch is given at page 62), which runs Gardens 

 between severely clipped Yews and Hollies, and is planted 

 almost entirely with mauve Nepeta and Larkspurs. 



Memories, too, were recalled of the Strouan garden, where 

 I had painted Montbretias (Germania, orange red, and Aurea, 

 golden yellow) only ten days before, as they glowed on a 

 sunless day against pale mauve Sweet Peas with a background of 

 fruit trees, Irish Yews, and distant mountains, and where I had 

 left unpainted several other good subjects. Two pink borders 

 especially attracted me in the one were Shell Pink Japonica 

 Anemone, with Auratums and clumps of Hyacinthus can die an s 

 at intervals, and mauve and cream Violas below in the other 

 were Phloxes, Hollyhocks, and Michaelmas Daisies. Yet 

 another border, planted chiefly for October effect, was gay 

 with groups of white Anemones, bright mauve Michaelmas 

 Daisies, tlgrinum and auratum Lilies, Tritomas, Eryngiums, and 

 golden Montbretia. Everywhere it was the same story, the beds 

 were full of flowers looking as if they meant to bloom for weeks. 



Phloxes never seem to flourish anywhere as they do in 

 Scotland. I learnt at Nether Place the value of pink and white 

 varieties massed with the rich blue of Monkshood, set against 

 the dark background of the finest old Irish Yews I have ever 

 seen, and at Barskimming the beauty of the mauves, alone or 

 grouped near white flowers, such as Clematis flammula or 

 Hydrangea paniculata. 



The sketch of the picturesque garden of Kirkhill, in the 

 Lowlands (shown in " Lily Notes ") was not painted till October, 

 when tigrinum splendent and Michaelmas Daisies were in 



59 



