Hydrangea Sahia azurea grandiflora, Delphiniums, etc. ; and among 

 and creepers are many varieties of Ceanothus and the lovely Ipomcea 

 Veronica rubro-ccerulea. For autumn Hydrangeas, Agapanthus and 

 Plumbago are invaluable. Hydrangeas are very adaptable, 

 thriving either in open sunny spots or in the shade of a wood. 

 They are not hardy everywhere, and are more generally 

 grown in Cornwall and Devonshire, but they do well here too. 

 One fine old plant in a cottage garden is smothered in blue 

 flowers every year, and, setting a fashion in the village, has 

 supplied many an offspring to the front plots. Agapanthus and 

 Plumbago need the shelter of a greenhouse in winter, but in 

 summer look well standing out in tubs. They flower here till 

 the end of October, blending harmoniously with the reds and 

 purples of the various Vines. The Vine heterophyllus humifolia 

 supplies, by the way, a wonderful touch of turquoise blue 

 in its berries, if only there is sun enough to ripen them 

 properly. 



The sketch illustrates a summer effect of Veronica, Anchusa 

 and Delphinium, grouped with Campanula grandis and purple 

 and white English Iris. Many of the herbaceous Veronicas, of 

 which some flower early in the summer and some later, are a 

 beautiful blue. V. amethystina, the variety illustrated, grows 

 two to three feet high, and produces crowded spikes of tiny 

 bright blue flowers at the end of June. V. gentianoides, an earlier 

 variety with close dark green foliage, and pale blue or white 

 spikes of flower about i o inches in height, is a good rock garden 

 plant, and I have seen it charmingly used as a foundation to a 

 bed of Darwin Tulips. V. prostrata is a still better carpeting 

 plant, making literally a sheet of blue in June, if on a soil it 

 likes. Here, on our chalk, it refuses to grow, but seems to 

 190 



