SCOTTISH GARDENS IN GENERAL 



marched me off saying, " Come this way ; I have 

 something to show you." He led me to a north- 

 west corner between two ivy-covered walls and 

 displayed with much pride a few flowering sprays 

 of Tropceolum speciosum that lovely flame-flower, 

 which, in the humid north, is a rampant, but ever- 

 welcome weed. It certainly was a triumph of 

 horticulture to succeed even moderately in one of 

 the hottest counties in England with this plant 

 which revels in the cool soil and moist atmosphere 

 of the north ; but the merit of this garden lay 

 not in such feats of coddling, but in the abund- 

 ance and richness of sun-loving flowers. 



Do not let it be imagined that I am superior 

 to these little gardening foibles. J'ai passe par la, 

 moi qui vous parle nay, I am still treading the path 

 of futile error. Neither age nor experience, nor 

 both combined, can purge a fool of his folly; and 

 so it comes to pass that I cannot bring myself to 

 root up two large specimens of Xanthoceras sorbifolia, 

 a bush which in the southern counties loads itself 

 in May with garlands of white flowers with a 

 blotch of burgundy at the base of each petal. In 

 Scotland I have never seen it produce more than 

 a meagre sprinkling of half shrivelled blossoms. So 

 with Hibiscus syriacus, that glory of English Augusts, 

 and the bulbous Sternbergia, which stars with gold 

 the vineyards of France, what time the cream-tinted 

 oxen slowly draw the oozing grapes to the wine- 

 press. All of these, and many others which might 



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