MIDSUMMER POMPS 



other spires of richest rose-pink hollyhock. White 

 and lavender phloxes in the middle distance add 

 to the charm of this picture. Tapis Blanc, and 

 Antonin Mercie, and the little dark balls of box- 

 trees, and the blooming standard Conrad F. Meyer 

 roses with their formal flavor, are agreeable acces- 

 sories, really enhancing the beauty of the freer 

 flower masses. 



As each summer appears and waxes, I think I 

 have found the companion for sea-holly. One year 

 it was phlox Coquelicot or its brilliant brother 

 R. P. Struthers; another year phlox Pantheon 

 was my favorite for the honor; while last year I 

 was entirely captivated by the effect of the an- 

 nual Statice bonduelli, primrose or canary-yellow, 

 with the blue-gray eryngium. But this season a 

 large group of the sea-hollies chanced to bloom 

 beside another group of pentstemon, and a happy 

 alliance it was, quite the happiest of all. The 

 brilliant color of the pentstemon, Pentstemon bar- 

 batus Torreyii, found its perfect concomitant in the 

 cloudy blues of the eryngium, and the two to- 

 gether formed a satisfying spectacle. This pent- 

 stemon, not one of the newer hybrids, I also 

 liked for use in the house, especially when rising 

 from bowlfuls of the creamy heads of Hydrangea 



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