In My Vicarage Garden 



bination of the reddish-brown stems, and the 

 abundance of the small white flowers, each set in 

 a pale-brown starry calyx, gives a combination of 

 colour that is exceedingly pretty. Another half- 

 shrubby good autumn flower is the Phygelius 

 Capensis, and the arrangement of the flowers is 

 worth noticing. Each flower-stem or petiole 

 starts from the main stem at a right angle, and 

 from this the flower hangs at a second right angle, 

 so that the main stem, the petiole, and the flower 

 form three sides of a square. The arrangement 

 for the fertilization is very elaborate, but if it 

 should fail, the flower as it falls is like a tube 

 open at both ends, and in falling to the ground 

 the bottom ring forces together pistil and stamens, 

 and so produces fertilization. I also strongly re- 

 commend the despised fuchsias as among the best 

 of autumn decorative shrubs. They are rather 

 more popular now than they were some years 

 ago, when it was considered an artistic heresy to 

 admire them, but they are still seldom seen ; yet 

 they are quite hardy, though most of them die 

 down in the winter, and in the autumn they give 

 an abundance of flowers borne on bushes that are 

 never unsightly. 



The fruit-bearing trees and shrubs of autumn 

 add largely to the beauty of a garden. I do not 

 know why so few people grow the Japanese Per- 

 simmon (Diospyros Kaki\ but I seldom see it in 

 the open ground. Yet it is quite hardy, has very 

 handsome foliage, and when the tree has a good 



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