The Culmination of Spring 



along too fast, and the leaves are sure to be nipped and 

 disfigured. I like to plant autumn-flowering Crocuses 

 among them and deeper than the Eremuri, so that they 

 may come spearing through between their spokes and make 

 a show in the necessarily large space occupied by the giants, 

 and which would be bare and uninteresting after their rest- 

 ing season commences. I also plant Gypsophila paniculata 

 behind the Eremurus clumps, and keep it staked till they 

 die down and then remove the ties and let it fall over the 

 space. The next long border is backed by a Holly hedge 

 that gives protection to some rather delicate shrubs, and 

 among them are some of my beloved Eucalypts, and one 

 of them is in flower, as the illustration facing p. 232 shows. 

 The buds were formed last autumn, and have been opening 

 a few at a time ever since last November. I am rather 

 proud of this specimen, because it was raised from seed I 

 gathered on a large one that lived many years in the rock 

 garden and was quite a timber tree. The fluffy yellow 

 flowers are very pretty among the wonderfully blue leaves. 

 It is E. cordata, a Tasmanian species, and one of the hardiest, 

 but very difficult to get true to name. It is very similar 

 in appearance to E. pulverulenta from Victoria, which is 

 even more brilliant in its colouring, as the young leaves 

 are shot with pink and the whole plant is very mealy and 

 blue, but is not so hardy as cordata, and has more than 

 once been killed outright by a winter that spared the Tas- 

 manian species. 



Crossing the old bowling-green lawn we get a charm- 

 ing picture of beautiful foliage and soft colouring which 

 is shown facing p. 248. It is at the back of Tom Tiddler's 

 285 



