96 JUNE 



which ensure its blooming the following year ; but 

 more often it has only the life of a biennial, and 

 disappears after flowering. However, it is easily 

 raised from seed, and the sowing of such a good 

 thing in the seed-patch should be as much a matter 

 of course as the sowing of the indispensable wall- 

 flower. I find here that it distributes itself and 

 forms colonies all round the parent plants, which is 

 the easiest and pleasantest solution of the problem 

 of its culture. Pentstemon procerus, like many 

 type pentstemons, cannot endure to be suffocated 

 by other plants at any period of its growth. The 

 exquisite P. cyananthus (var. Brandegii) is just 

 coming into full bloom, and has the true blue colour 

 so valuable in gardens. I am trying P. J off ray anus, 

 which is well spoken of, but have not seen it in 

 flower yet. I find that most pentstemons take a 

 fairly long time to establish themselves. 



What a perfect flower is the clematis languinosa, 

 Lady Caroline Nevill ! It is too dwarf for a wall, 

 and I should like to try it pegged down between 

 plants of Mrs. Sinkins pinks. I think that for 

 once I should have a conventional arrangement of 

 some sort, with the pinks used for outlining, and 

 the clematis in large plots for filling in. Then 

 planted thickly among the clematis there should be 

 quantities of tritonias, which would follow Lady 

 Caroline in blooming, the foliage of the pinks 

 when the flowers were over being sufficiently 

 beautiful in itself to hold its own in the later 

 picture. I find tritonia crocosmice flora perfectly 

 hardy, but T. Pottsi dies in a v/inter alternately 

 cold and wet. The former is very satisfactory and 



