My Garden in Spring 



like Autumn than Spring tints, but in late Summer they 

 turn green and cease to be remarkable. Lower down is a 

 remarkably fine Dead Nettle not often seen, Lamium Orvala, 

 with handsome, deep-green leaves and flesh-pink flowers. 

 On the other side of the path is a plant of Orvala lamioides, 

 by some authorities considered the same as the Lamium, 

 but it has a very different habit and appearance, and leaves 

 that are tinged with red and much like those of a Coleus 

 and that colour finely in Autumn. Hereabouts grow 

 many Violas ; there are three forms of V. cucullata, a deep 

 blue, a white, and a pied, besides F. sorora, another American 

 species with light-blue flowers of great size, F. pubescens, the 

 largest flowered of the yellow Violets, and sagittata, a pretty 

 blue one. These are all tuberous rooted and die down each 

 Winter, after the manner of F. biflora, the wee yellow Violet 

 of the Alps, and its American representative, F. scabriuscala, 

 which scarcely differs from it except in having markedly 

 pointed instead of round leaves. I have one little tuft of 

 F. biflora with pale sulphur flowers that I brought from 

 the St. Gothard district, the only variant I have ever found 

 among the thousands of normal ones I have met with. 

 Much of the right-hand slope is carpeted with two forms 

 of F. canina, both given me by Mr. Wolley-Dod, one a 

 pure white and of very neat habit, which though it seeds 

 all over the place comes quite true from seed, the other 

 a pretty blue and white pied form, but which spreads much 

 less than the white. Another and larger white Violet I 

 believe to be of American origin, and either white 

 Riviniana or very near it. Dr. Lowe gave it to me many 

 years ago, and bade me remember that it was not the white 

 264 



