March Winds 



flowers are more attractive to the eye, with bright green 

 bracts and creamy-white blossoms. They generally appear 

 with the New Year, but are dwarf until March, when they 

 run up on long stems among the fresh young leaves. It is 

 a good plant to fill up odd corners among shrubs, especially 

 at the back of borders where tall herbaceous plants are 

 grown in front. P. japonica gigantea is not very lavish with 

 its large flower heads, but a few go a long way, as each 

 one in the distance looks like a large clump of Primroses, 

 leaves and all. Its immense leaves are its best part, of 

 course, and are those one sees in Japanese pictures being 

 used as umbrellas. They want a swampy bit of ground 

 and good feeding to grow large over here, and in this dry 

 garden the poor things look tired and finally sit down on 

 hot dry days. P. palmata is seldom seen ; its handsome 

 leaves are worth having, especially as they are happy in 

 any rough corner. The variegated form of Tussilago 

 Farfara is one of the most beautiful of variegated plants, 

 but is as hard to establish and keep as the common green 

 form is to destroy. It will walk underground quite a yard 

 between dying down and reappearing, which is annoying 

 if you have it among other plants which would not 

 appreciate the cold poultice of a half dozen of its great 

 leaves pressing down on their chests. It has walked along 

 one border until it has reached a triangular corner and the 

 gravel walk, and here it has received a check and huddled 

 itself together to think how to proceed. It got such a 

 snubbing for appearing in the middle of the path that I 

 hope it will not try again and get across to the strawberry 

 beds. Its flowers are quite pretty ; the stems have much 

 red and brown on them, but otherwise they are similar to 

 159 



