My Garden in Spring 



across its width to the stone steps. I built them out of 

 the debris of an old house that was pulled down on an 

 outlying part of the estate. The old doorsteps, copings, 

 and window-sills and some black and white hall flooring 

 have met again here, and look as though they had been 

 quarried for the purpose, and that some centuries ago, 

 now that various plants have sprung up in the cracks and 

 holes. They make a convenient place to stand a collection 

 of Agaves, Aloes, and other specimen succulent plants 

 during the summer ; the first arrivals, Agaves and Agapan- 

 thus in tubs had just been placed there when the photo- 

 graph facing p. 1 48 was taken. The large Bog Myrtle on the 

 left bank behind the clump of Scirpus lacustris is a fine 

 specimen of which I am very proud. Round its feet I 

 grow a collection of various forms of Caltha palustris, and 

 one of the best is var. semi-plena, not quite so heavy as the 

 other doubles. But all of them look well from the windows 

 of the house as seen growing on the water's edge and 

 reflected in it. It is astonishing how many forms there 

 are of this plant. Monstrosa, fl. pi., is the earliest to 

 flower here, and makes a compact mass of glowing yellow 

 bloom very wonderful when doubled by reflection in water : 

 var. purpurascens is a deeply coloured single form with 

 purple stems, very rich and effective. Tyerman's var., 

 a large pale but clear yellow form, has the most perfectly 

 formed flowers : var. sibirica has small flowers and a 

 habit of rooting at the ends of the long stalks that bear 

 them, so that it soon founds a colony, and seems to prefer 

 to grow in shallow water, and so carries out the golden 

 effect further from the bank. A minor form I found in 

 the New Forest keeps its character here, and flowers late. 

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