62 A Little Maryland Garden 
spireas, palmata and filipendula, come up 
to the light. 
It is hard to keep from digging in the 
borders till the soaked earth has given up 
some of its moisture, the temptation to sow 
seeds and set out little plants is so strong. 
But one can sow poppy seeds, which are only 
sprinkled on the surface of the ground 
and gently pressed into it. 
I suppose the time is not far off when we 
shall have blue poppies, now that they have 
been discovered in Thibet. Mr. Percival 
Landon, telling of his journey into Lhassa, 
speaks of 
the vivid sky-blue Thibetan poppy, most strik- 
ing flower that we saw through the entire jour- 
ney, expanding its crinkled ‘‘crepe-de-chine”’ 
petals in the sand. Its height varies from five 
inches to fifteen, the leaves and stalks are 
covered with sharp, stiff spines, and the colour 
is the most vivid blue I have seen in a plant, far 
exceeding in strength and purity the forget- 
me-not or the germander-speedwell. 
It seems strange that in the upland 
valleys of Thibet, where the summers are 
