MAY GARLANDS 73 



those who have not chanced to see these delight- 

 ful grounds, or the exhibits at the Temple 

 Flower Show, or the display in Regent's 

 Park. For I was so filled with enthusiasm 

 before such wondrous developments in colour 

 and form, that I longed that others, even 

 from a dull description, might appreciate 

 them to some small extent. And this 

 enthusiasm has only been increased, and my 

 choice of varieties confirmed, by subsequent 

 visits. 



The famous novelty Pink Pearl stands alone ; 

 a crowning triumph to three generations of 

 patient scientific work in hybridisation. Never 

 was name more appropriate than this ; for the 

 enormous flowers are exactly the colour of that 

 most delicate and rare of jewels, a pink pearl. 

 One of its parents is the grand Himalayan 

 Rhododendron, R . Auckla ndi (syn. Griffithianum\ 

 a white or blush-coloured species growing to 

 the size of a tree. And this, one imagines, 

 might make it somewhat delicate ; for the R. 

 Auckland! is even more tender than the grand 

 R, Arboreum, the Himalayan crimson Tree 



