JANUARY 181 



' I have, I think, merely alluded to the Genistas, and 

 most people know, besides the common yellow, the White 

 Portugal and the Yellow Spanish so-called Broom, which 

 is, however, not really a Genista, but a Spartium, though 

 it looks so like a Broom, and is very showy late in the 

 season, when the common Broom is over. The low- 

 growing real Genista hispanica is a very useful little 

 plant. Those who have not got the Broom with the 

 crimson lip (G. andreana), nor the cream-coloured 

 hybrid (G. prcecox) , should not fail to get them both, as 

 they are an immense acquisition to our hardy flower- 

 ing shrubs. 



'To -day I have been reminded of a nice plant of 

 Eugenia ugni, a kind of Myrtle which has stood out 

 some years against the terrace wall of my garden, and 

 which bloomed and ripened its fruit so well that I have 

 lately sent a sample of its fragrant berries to a friend in 

 Switzerland. The scent and flavour remind one of 

 both Strawberries and Pineapple, with a slight mixture 

 of Bog Myrtle.' I hope no one will confound this 

 description of a Scotch garden with what I am able to 

 do in dry Surrey.* 



January 20th. It is a constant disappointment to 

 me that I cannot get the Tussilago fragrans, called 

 Winter Heliotrope, with its delicious fragrant spikes 

 of flowers, to bloom here. It is quite hardy, and a 

 weed supposed to grow anywhere, but I never get any- 

 thing except a few leaves. This, of course, is in conse- 

 quence of the dryness, the poorness of the soil, and the 

 want of shade, as it has such a weedy growth I cannot 

 put it into any good border. It is a distinct loss, not 

 getting these flowers in midwinter. I should recom- 

 mend everyone who has a damp corner to try and grow 

 them. They are not showy, but when picked their 

 delicious scent will pervade a whole room. 



