OCTOBER 



" Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, 

 Close bosom friend of the maturing sun ; 

 Conspiring with him how to load and bless 

 With fruit the Vines that round the thatch-eaves run ; 

 To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees, 

 And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core ; 

 To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells 

 With a sweet kernel ; to set budding more, 

 And still more, later flowers for the bees, 

 Until they think warm days will never cease, 

 For summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells." 



ohn Keats. 



ALTHOUGH few trees are turned as yet, real autumn Autumn 

 colour is appearing in the garden. colour 



Vitis purpurea enriches its colour every day the 

 whole Vine is still a mysterious tint between plum and blue- 

 green with a look of bloom spread over it, but many leaves are 

 already purple, and some a brilliant scarlet ; presently these 

 bright tints become universal, and blend well with other richly 

 coloured shrubs, such as Rbus cotinus Sumach and its many 

 toned red leaves and smoke-like heads. Just now the Vine 

 forms a wonderful background, as the picture shows, to plants 

 of delicate colouring like Plumbago, or a pale Michaelmas 

 Daisy. On the iron grill close by is Cobcea scandens, a half 

 hardy perennial creeper with a very quick and charming growth. 

 It will not withstand the Winter in this country, but may 

 be treated as an annual, sown in heat during March, 

 and planted out in June; directly the roots have hold, it 



