IN MY LADY'S GARDEN 



sheltered position with a sunny aspect. V. Traversi is the 

 hardiest of them, and may be grown anywhere, but it 

 blossoms in August and September, so that it is scarcely 

 available for winter flowering ; and perhaps the blue 

 blossoms of V. decussata (a neat dwarf variety with hand- 

 some shining foliage) are the best for a window-box, especi- 

 ally as blue is not too common a colour in winter flowers. 

 V. speciosa, with longer bottle-brushes in the same tint, and 

 the fine pink variety, V. gauntletti, also V. imperials, a 

 handsome veronica with petunia-purple flowers, are not so 

 hardy as V. decussata, but will do well in a sheltered south- 

 west window in the warmer parts of our islands. All can 

 be well grown in pots, and they are excellent plants for a 

 cool greenhouse or a porch in winter, standing well in the 

 open air, except in the severest of our winter weather. 



Then there are the barberries most decorative in winter 

 and in the early spring with berries of brilliant scarlet 

 (B. Thunbergi) and richly-tinted leaves ; B. Darwini is an 

 evergreen plant, which is covered with brilliant fire-coloured 

 blossoms in April, followed by purple berries ; and B. 

 (mahonia) aquifolia is the best of all, with elegant shining 

 leaves splashed in winter with crimson, and pale yellow 

 flowers in the early spring. 



All the barberries can be grown from berries, and most 

 of them from cuttings, sheltered under a cold frame during 

 their first winter in the same way as laurestinus. Berberis 

 aquifolia and some others throw up suckers around an old 

 plant in the shrubbery, which can be potted up now. 



The pots containing these shrubs should be covered with 

 light soil to protect the roots from frost, and bulbs can be 

 planted between the pots. Daffodils of the earlier flowering 

 varieties make an excellent addition to a box of Berberis 

 aquifolia ; double pink tulips (Salvator Rosa) can be chosen 

 to fill a box of laurestinus or choisya, and many another 

 spring bulb (such as the crocus, snowdrop, chionodoxa, &c.) 

 will make a neat edging to the rest. 



Even in a window with a northerly aspect we may have 

 flowers as well as ferns, for primroses, polyanthus, and 



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