similar effect. This latter combination may be seen at Kew, Almond 

 where the sketch was painted ; l but no doubt the pleasure is and other 

 partly derived from association with Italy, and recollections Blossoming" 

 of Cypress and Almond with a setting of blue sea or mountain. Trees and 



Almonds should be grown also with P run us divaricatus and TT 4-u Pr 

 P. cerasifera or the Myrobalan Plum ; the dark, stiff branches of 

 the latter studded with white flowers, and the more graceful sprays 

 of divaricatus, would either of them be fascinating as a background. 

 P. cerasifera is frequently used for hedges as it grows quickly; as a 

 garden shrub it has been neglected, but if left unpruned it grows 

 to a good-sized tree and is valuable for the earliness of its bloom. 



If Almonds, or either of these early varieties of Prunus, are 

 standing in the open, the grass below may be sprinkled with 

 mauve, purple, or white Crocuses to add to the beauty of the 

 group, or the trees may have a carpet of some of the early 

 Heathers. Many of these are very pretty, and bestow on the 

 garden white, or rose pink tones at a time when such colouring 

 is rare, their dark foliage softening and enriching the effect. 

 Though these Heathers flower so early, they last till the 

 appearance of the first Daffodils, making it as well to put the 

 pink trees, with their rose-coloured or mauve carpet, where they 

 will not clash with the yellows of spring. Erica carnea is 

 usually in perfection about the middle of March, but the striking 

 tufts of colour begin very often as early as January. Fortunately 

 it does not need peat, but grows well in ordinary loam. Erica 

 mediterranea flowers about the same time. It is taller and less 

 brilliant in colour, but their two shades of pink blend well. 

 Apart from its more vivid cousin, this Mediterranean 

 Heather, growing, as one sees it in Cornwall, at the edge of 



1 See frontispiece. 



I0 7 



