A GARDEN DIARY 51 



has to be watched over like hid treasure, it 

 may be doubted whether the amount that we 

 can afford to have trickling through it in 

 summer will suffice to hinder the water in it 

 from becoming yellow, brown, or green. That 

 is a point however which remains for future 

 discovery. Our main preoccupation at present 

 rests with the planting of the edges of our 

 pool, especially with the clothing of the bank 

 which, rising to the north of it, will absorb most 

 of the midday sun, and will require therefore the 

 most attention. 



In its present condition a good deal of that 

 bank looks bare to desperation, yet I strongly 

 suspect that summer will prove it to have the 

 reverse fault of being crowded with a dense, 

 and inextricably entangled mass of vegetation. 

 Fortunately half its present inhabitants, being 

 biennials, will depart after the first season, when, 

 the prospect clearing, the permanent inhabitants 

 will stand forth confest and visible. 



Omitting this temporary part of its furniture, 

 I will jot the others down as they stand, which 

 will enable us to see what we have, and also to 

 form a better idea of what we still lack. 



First and foremost a kindly gift ; two large 

 clumps of Arundo donax, easily supreme any- 

 where as pond-side decoration, the more so, as 

 they quickly attain to their full size. No other 

 plant of the reedy order, not even excepting 



