OUR COUNTRY LIFE 



winter and arranged in a Japanese wall basket against 

 the brown wood of the chimney piece, really make a 

 striking effect. 



I have said that the most beautiful blue flower in 

 the world is the Chinese larkspur, but the bright blue 

 salvia (patens) sometimes causes me to hesitate. 

 There is a curious evanescent quality in the stem and 

 leaves which throws into still stronger relief the splen 

 did, velvet-blue of the bloom. In a corner of the gar 

 den made gay with yellow coneflowers, this plot of 

 brilliant azure looks at a distance like a tiny pool. 



Of all the coneflowers, the triloba is the most satis 

 factory. How inadequate are words to describe its 

 color! Its petals are small but so vividly yellow shad 

 ing to orange that the effect is dazzling in the sun 

 light. Doing well in half shade, when cut it brings 

 the sunshiae to the darkest corner of a room. Unlike 

 many of the rudbeckias, it has the agreeable habit 

 of keeping crisp and fresh for days in the house; and 

 its blossoming period lasts from July to the first week 

 of October. At first we planted it just outside the 



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