io EVERSLEY GARDENS 



The west bed, opposite the other window, 

 has been an even greater and more lasting 

 joy. Late in April, I thrust into it, with 

 but little hope of their ultimate survival, 

 twenty dwarf Roses, mainly Magna Charta 

 the one really successful bargain of my life. 

 A gardening friend, knowing that at the start 

 I should think more of quantity than quality 

 in filling the bare garden, told me that some 

 hundreds of foreign Roses had been offered to 

 him, left over from the last plant sales of the 

 season at the auction rooms of a neighbouring 

 town, and that he believed any bid would be 

 taken. I offered 55. for 100; and got them 

 for 6s. 6d. Some I gave away; the rest I 

 kept. Few things in the garden have given 

 me more satisfaction than the great bushes 

 laden with masses of huge rose-pink blossoms, 

 upon which I look at every meal in the 

 Summer. And I have a shrewd suspicion 

 that they are on their own roots ; for never 

 a sign have they shown of the vile suckers 

 which destroy half the budded dwarfs ; so 

 that I trust they may last as long as I have 



