112 IN A GLOUCESTERSHIRE GARDEN 



flowers left. I am surprised at a fine bunch of Alstrae- 

 meria psittacina, or pulchella, Avhich has been in full 

 flower for some weeks, and has been as yet uninjured 

 by frosts. It is true that I have it in a very sheltered 

 corner, but it is a Brazilian plant, and though I have 

 grown it for many years in the same place I have not 

 before noted it as a good flowering plant for the late 

 autumn. The Pampas grasses are very late this year, 

 and I suppose that arises from their starting into growth 

 very late in the cold spring. The male Pampas grass 

 will not flower at all this year, and the female was 

 too late to be of use in harvest decorations ; but its 

 place was well filled by the bamboos, which have been 

 in quite luxuriant growth this year. The hardy fuchsias, 

 though rather late, have been very full of blossom, and 

 they are shrubs which I value for their rich autumn 

 blooming. I grow most of the hardy kinds, and have 

 done so for many years, though I have been often told 

 by friends who call themselves aesthetic that they have 

 no beauty ; I am therefore rather amused to see how 

 they are again becoming fashionable. I have grown 

 in the open ground in summer the beautiful new F. 

 triphylla, and it has been a great success. I call it 

 new because it was introduced into England less than 

 ten years ago, yet it is really the oldest fuchsia 

 known, having been discovered more than a hundred 



