A GARDEN DIARY 57 



Here cistuses of various kinds have their home, 

 and, being fairly sheltered, do well, though 

 several require remembering in the winter. I 

 find the same to be the case here with regard to 

 the rosemaries, especially the younger plants, as 

 they grow older they seem to harden. Lavenders 

 fortunately are safe everywhere, in all weathers, 

 and the same may be said of Skimmia japonica 

 and Fortunei, two of the most satisfactory of 

 small winter-flowering shrubs. These with a few 

 tufts of Andromeda floribunda, and a small jungle 

 of alpine rhododendron, bring us up to the azalea 

 corner. 



All these plants, especially the more recently 

 planted ones, will need pretty constant looking 

 after during the next year or so, but once that 

 crucial period of their existence is over, it is 

 my hope possibly only my delusion that they 

 will learn so to arrange their affairs as merely 

 to require the sort of attention that is necessary 

 to see that they do not overcrowd one another, 

 or what is more serious become invaded by 

 wild neighbours, rose -campions, and the like, 

 swarming in upon them to the point of suffo- 

 cation. The safest way of avoiding this is un- 

 doubtedly to cover the ground with low, carpeting 

 growths, which will remain green nearly all the 

 year round, and at the same time not make too 

 severe a demand upon the soil. The number 

 of such kindly little evergreens, or semi-ever- 



