200 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 



Lilies of the Valley do very well in London if planted under 

 a wall ; facing east is the best position, and they should 

 be left alone. Most of the hardy Lilies would thrive if 

 planted in October, especially the scarlet Lily, Lilium chal- 

 cedonicum, which flowers early. One reason why London 

 gardens do so badly very often is that they are neglected 

 in September and October. Wallflowers are best planted 

 in September; and I am afraid many beginners fail to 

 realise what are annuals and what are not, and the 

 greater the difficulties the greater the care necessary. I 

 saw once in a review of an American book on gardening 

 that the late springs and the early heat in parts of 

 America made the growing of many of the larger annuals 

 a great difficulty, as they could not be sown out of doors 

 early enough. The reviewer quoted the author of the 

 book's statement of how she ingeniously devised the follow- 

 ing method : Determined not to be beaten, she grew the 

 single seeds in empty egg-shells stuck into boxes of sand ; 

 when the time came for planting, and the little seed had 

 grown, the shell was just broken and the whole thing 

 dropped into the ground where it was to grow. In this 

 way she got Poppies, &c., to flourish plants that will not 

 bear moving at all, as a general rule. I mention this as 

 an example of the whole spirit of gardening, a patient 

 conquering of difficulties. Biding on the crest of the 

 wave that tries to submerge us is one of the phases of 

 our existence that makes life most satisfactory and worth 

 living, and it is the secret of all progress. If gardening 

 were easy, even under favourable circumstances, we 

 should none of us care to do it. 



It must strike everyone when driving through the 

 streets of London in the summer how elaborately ugly is 

 the planting of many of the window-boxes. What seems 

 to me to look best is to keep the flowers as distinct and as 

 unmixed as possible. To set out plants that are not really 



