Berberis Many sorts of Berberis are gay now and worth planting in 



and prominent positions : B. Stenophylla most graceful and showy 



Magnolia w ^ l n S sp ra ys of fine green and hanging orange-yellow 



flowers; B. Nepalensis with a very handsome foliage and 



upright spikes of bloom, and B. Darwinii making a fine dark 



evergreen bush covered in April with hundreds of orange 



flowers ; B. Vulgar -is , and many others. B. Wallichiana and 



*Ibunbcrgi, as they turn to many shades of red, are even more 



beautiful in the Autumn than in the Spring. 



Magnolia conspicua should now be a wonder of shining 

 white, cup-shaped flowers. The one illustrated is growing in 

 a very sheltered garden at Saltwood. In sunshine when the 

 flowers are wide open the effect is dazzling, but the sketch 

 unfortunately had to be done on a grey cold day when it was 

 not looking its best. The grass underneath was sprinkled with 

 yellow Jonquils, and close by, Camellia trees were in splendid 

 condition, their glossy foliage covered with red and white 

 blossoms, but they were a month behind their usual flowering 

 time. Even these very fine specimens are not attractive to 

 me, they are a little too stiff in form and spotty in effect. 

 Much prettier is a mauve Azalea, sweet-scented and very useful 

 at this time of year, but looking fragile as if a storm of rain 

 would destroy it. Spiraa Ihumbergii looks well near by, with 

 its masses of tiny white flowers in graceful sprays. 



This month, which opened with Daffodils, sees them at 

 their very best towards the close ; only the earliest are over, 

 while the latest are in bud and Pheasant-eye Narcissus have 

 begun. A sight of them at Kew made me long more than ever 

 to plant them by the thousand in their separate varieties. The 

 hill by the pond, which earlier in the year seemed all Crocus, is 



40 



