CHAPTER XX 



FOURTH WEEK IN MAY 



MAY is pre-eminently the month of herbaceous plants. 

 Years ago, when bedding-out flowers were fashion- 

 able, we had to wait until the end of June before our 

 gardens were gay ; now, fortunately, the latter half of May 

 sees the herbaceous border in great beauty, for the hardy 

 plants, wakening from their winter sleep in March, soon 

 push up their sturdy spikes, and blossom in abundance 

 quickly follows. 



Pseonies, regal in their fine colouring and size, are 

 unfolding magnificent blooms. Their crimson-tinted leaves 

 have been conspicuous amongst the green for some weeks, 

 harmonising charmingly with the golden daffodils ; and now 

 each globular bud is bursting its calix, and the great fragrant 

 flowers in creamy white, every shade of delicate pink and 

 crimson, with golden stamens, are unfolding their fringed and 

 tufted petals. Double, single, or semi-double, it is difficult 

 to say which are the most lovely. Summer Day, like a 

 magnified La Marque rose, is one of the most perfect 

 of blossoms ; Limosel, in pale pink, is a grand flower, 

 with special fragrance ; Coronation is in delicate shades 

 of flesh-pink, apricot, and cream, with rich golden anthers 

 filling in the centre ; and many other grand double varieties 

 can be selected from the catalogue of Messrs. Kelway, of 

 Langport, who are specialists in these glorious flowers. 

 Agnes Mary Kelway is the queen of the tufted pasonies, 

 a singularly handsome hybrid of the Japanese type ; 

 Mountebank (with pink guard petals, surrounding a mass 



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