112 A Little Maryland Garden 
Gardening in the East seems to go by 
rushes and pauses. After the splendid bloom 
of the iris comes a period of waiting, and 
again, after the rush of the roses everything 
seems to halt. A rather flat time follows, 
of watching buds form on border plants, 
and annuals, before there is another lavish 
display. Perhaps distance makes one’s early 
home seem more perfect than it really was, 
but it seems to me that in California bloom 
was more continuous, and that on any sum- 
mer day one could look out and see the garden 
full of flowers. Perhaps a long experience 
of flower-raising in this country would bring 
about the same result, but even in the garden 
under the wall, the ne plus ultra of gardens 
in our neighbourhood, there are the same 
times of depression, when the plants seem 
to gather themselves together for a fresh 
effort. It is always in bloom, but like mine, 
it has its high and its ebb tides. 
This garden under the wall deserves an 
introduction, for it is my standard of com- 
parison. It lies under the street, below the 
