56 MY SHRUBS 



But we poor struggling amateurs enjoy none of these privileges : 

 not for us do obedient sails bring fine things from realms un- 

 furrowed ; not for us do obedient nymphs our dulcet mandates 

 hear ; we cannot sally forth, like Sir David Prain, flower-crowned 

 and followed by a host of tripping horticultural fairies. Nobody 

 fans our perspiring sub-tropicals in glass-built fanes. When 

 girls go into my glass-built fane, they only fan themselves. It is 

 true that another sort of nymph tripped into the Nation's orchid 

 houses not so long ago, and they neither propped the weak stem 

 nor led the erring tendril ; but for the most part, and subject to 

 those little trials from which no human institution in these thrilling 

 times is free, Kew has the gardening world at her feet, and we 

 creatures of an hour cannot fail to be jealous of her and envy her 

 amazing privileges. I ought to go to Kew in a humble spirit, and 

 haunt its glades and glass for six months before daring to write 

 this little book about shrubs. But I shall not. These are my 

 shrubs that I am talking about, and not one of them came from 

 Kew. I believe I have got about two that Kew has not got. If 

 it knew of these, Kew would send messengers with rich gifts in 

 exchange ; and I should slight them and entreat them scornfully, 

 and send them back to the Royal Gardens empty-handed. I 

 have got my " vegetable-pride " too. 



Not that Hakea eriantha, from Australia, ministered to it ; this 

 good evergreen died at the first onset of November without a 

 struggle. To-day it was here, to-morrow it had vanished. I 

 remember no frost, or other peril, though it is true it came with 

 that familiar danger signal, " a good plant for favoured gardens." 

 Yet others have survived with the same warning on their foreheads. 

 I remember that Melaleuca perished out of hand, and sundry of its 



