94 JUNE 



d'or, and Reine Marie Henrietta. The last, which 

 is among the most useful of all, should be grown 

 on a comparatively cool wall, such as one with an 

 aspect due west. Perpetual sunburn is fatal to its 

 colour in very hot weather, and the ideal place for 

 it is under glass, where, in spring, it comes best and 

 brightest. Cheshunt hybrid also, though perfect in 

 the bud, is always disappointing when fully expanded, 

 Bouquet d'or is a glorified Gloire, with a slightly 

 yellower flower and a perfectly formed bud. There 

 are one or two early Eugen Fiirsts in the rose-beds, 

 for these are the pioneers of the hybrid perpetuals. 

 I am always telling myself how sorry I am that I 

 have but one bed of chinas ; but except for their 

 long-flowering habit I do not care for them, my first 

 necessity in roses being those which will live longest 

 in water, and are therefore well suited for cutting. 



The borders are looking gay, though not yet in 

 full beauty. I am short of various old favourites 

 this year, noticeably Canterbury bells, linum nar- 

 bonnense, which appears to have been destroyed 

 by the wet winter, and gaillardias, which probably 

 disliked it even more than the linum. One thing 

 which I decide every autumn to banish entirely 

 from the borders to the wild garden, and cling to 

 devotedly every summer, is the lovely blue alkanet 

 (anchusa italica). It is quite as beautiful in colour 

 as any delphinium, and far more persistent in 

 bloom. It is now in full glory, and I feel that I 

 would rather die than be without it. In August, 

 when it is lolling over two or three yards of soil 

 belonging to other plants, I feel that not I but it 

 must die, or be banished at any rate to the grass, 



