In My Vicarage Garden 



plant. And if we take this interpretation we may 

 begin our spring for garden purposes with the New 

 Year ; and if we are to have Ver perpetuum that 

 must be the commencement of our gardening year ; 

 and whether the weather is mild or cold the 

 gardener will see signs of the commencement of 

 spring even in what we usually call the depth of 

 winter. I have but a poor opinion of a gardener 

 who is only a summer or fine-weather gardener ; 

 and I do not call him a true lover of plants who 

 can only see beauty in fully developed flowers ; 

 and that must be a poor garden which cannot 

 show a plant-lover much to interest him in the 

 shortest days ; and the gardener, whether master 

 or servant, must be a poor observer if he cannot 

 see growth and progress in what is too often 

 called the dead time of the garden. The garden 

 is never dead ; growth is always going on, and 

 growth that can be seen, and seen with delight. 

 Take this year's January (1900). During Decem- 

 ber there were several days of very great cold, 

 which checked growth, and cut down many things 

 that had survived up to that time. Yet, on the 

 New Year, the garden was full of interest, and 

 even beauty, for any one who knew how to look 

 for it. True, there were very few open flowers, 

 but there were some which were very precious. 

 There were early crocuses, such as C. Imperati 

 and stellaris, and Christmas roses, but, as I said 

 before, the interest of a garden is not limited to 

 flowers. It is- really astonishing how little the 



