A DESCRIPTION OF MY GARDEN 105 



brush ; the beauty of the flowers, them, can only be 

 realized to the full by those who have seen them either 

 in our gardens, or in the Alps. With me Gentiana 

 verna does well, in sandy loam and leaf mould, kept 

 moist during the Summer. The clumps increase and 

 bear at times as many as a hundred flowers. 



Unfortunately its near relative, G. acaulis, is not so 

 tractable, and though it grows quite freely with me, 

 only produces " blind " and empty calices, just when 

 it should be studded with its huge blue trumpets. 



June also sees that choice little silvery plant 

 Geranium argenteum put forth its pink flowers, while 

 that brilliant though diminutive Alpine pink, Dianthus 

 alpinus, comes into bloom, growing only one inch 

 high, in moist gritty soil, or the moraine, and with 

 me, in full sun. The chief trouble I have with it 

 is that during the Winter a tiny yellowish grub eats 

 its way up the centre of the growths, causing each pair 

 of leaves to fall off, and eventually killing the plant. 

 I believe the eggs are laid by some fly, in the tissues of 

 the plant, during the Autumn, and hatch out in the 

 early Winter. I have tried frequent spraying with a 

 solution of quassia chips from August onwards, but 

 with very little result. 



This month is the time of the Spanish Iris, and very 

 charming they look planted in small groups, 

 springing well above the more dwarf plants, while 



