An early pussies or palms the children call them ; wild or cultivated they 

 Flowering- ar e lovely objects. The catkins of the white Poplar are par- 

 Shrub ticularly showy. A stall at the Horticultural Show one day in 

 February was entirely devoted to Catkinas and flowers of this 

 nature, and very interesting and beautiful they were. 



A very early flowering-shrub, and one rarely grown, as it 

 is not showy, is Mtttallta cerasiformis^ a deciduous shrub, a 

 native of California. It grows anywhere, and is quite hardy. 

 It can be lifted for early flowering, as can also the Kibes 

 Sanguineum, and its white variety, which the Mittallia some- 

 what resembles when in bloom. No garden lover who cares 

 for individual plants should be without an A%ara microphylla, 

 a South American shrub, with small, delicate, evergreen foliage, 

 and quite hardy. I suppose it likes a light sandy soil, as it does 

 equally well with me on a north wall, and also facing south, as 

 a bush. Both flourish, and both in spring are covered with 

 miniature yellow flowers, which grow on the underneath side of 

 the branches, and are so small they might easily be passed over, 

 but that for a few days in March they fill the whole air with a 

 delicious delicate scent exactly like vanilla. 



I suppose we all have, in spite of much disappointment and 

 many fits of depression, moments of pride and pleasure in our gar- 

 dens ; moments when we long to show them off, these our children 

 making perhaps a special gardening effect, to some understanding 

 friend. This comes to me most years when late frosts have not 

 been severe, and the beautiful Crown Imperials raise their stately 

 heads in very large clumps. They are strong plants, and are no 

 doubt able to take care of themselves in some soils and some 

 climates, but here, in this sandy, dry Surrey, nothing does well 

 if left really alone. "Wild gardening" as a synonym for 



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