34 My New Zealand Garden 



dampen (Sturt's Pea) grew here, but as his visit 

 was near winter, I could only furnish him with 

 a small photograph of some branches which I cut 

 off the previous summer. It grows flat along the 

 ground, spreading out in all directions from the 

 stem, and measuring about 5 feet across. Its 

 flowers have a startling richness and perkiness 

 which is very sensational at first sight. It grows 

 larger in Australia and much more robustly, but 

 it is beautiful enough for anything here. He was 

 also much enamoured of a dwarf Pomegranate 

 (Punica granatum nana), and I should like to 

 know some fresh adjectives to describe it. Pellucid 

 will do for one, for its blossoms possess such 

 a clearness and delicacy of texture and colour 

 that it is quite unique. The petals are so thin 

 and of such a vivid scarlet that it fills one with 

 wonderment ; I stand and stare at it. Sometimes, 

 in buying plants, one is fortunate in getting a good 

 one of its kind and sometimes the reverse, and 

 J think this must have been an exceptionally good 

 one, as Mr. Barr pronounced it the best he had 

 ever seen. 



It is very delightful to meet such an authority 

 on one's hobby, and I quite wish that a new 

 profession would start up to establish a resident 

 expert in every town to devote his time to visit- 

 ing amateurs' gardens. It would save many 

 great disappointments. Nobody seems sure how 



