MY SHRUBS 5 



if they lose their new wood in the winter, the bloom will not 

 come, when that is the wood they flower upon. I had what 

 appeared a happy thought for protecting the buds of tree paeonies 

 last year, and packed them into straw bottle-cases. But it was 

 not a success, for I bruised the buds. A screen hung over them 

 to break the frost is all they need. The early-flowering rhododen- 

 drons must also have protection for the bud, while such tender 

 folk as R, griffithianum, R. sesterianuniy or R. Falconeri, though 

 safe in many West Country gardens, are always a little coddled 

 by me if the weather turns very cold. The noble hybrids of 

 Griflithianum are, however, hardy here, and call for no care. 



What remarkable views nurserymen have, by the way, on the 

 subject of hardiness in a shrub ! These poets always know where 

 there is one specimen doing magnificently in the open air. They 

 mention the identical garden, so that there shall be no deception. 

 And we, with warmer gardens and equal energy and enterprise, 

 picture the superb thing flourishing with us also, and emulating 

 Sir Somebody*s famous piece, that was planted in early Victorian 

 times and never looked back. Then we pay our half-guinea, and 

 get it — three inches high, with four leaves and a hectic flush, as 

 who would say : " The dying salutes thee." Of course nobody 

 hears much more about it. When questioned by a jealous but 

 tactless friend, we pass the matter off lightly, and say it was quite 

 over-estimated, or the mice ate it, or something of that sort. But 

 he knows the truth, and tells our rivals that we failed with it. 

 Again, there is the shrub that the growers, with a sudden twinge 

 of conscience, frankly confess needs a favoured district. Never 

 trust that plant outside a stove. Still, of course, one goes on 

 believing the nurserymen year after year. They expect it, and 



