Photography of Flowers 143 



roses, hybrid perpetuals and my annual overflow of peren- 

 nials arranged in front of a long undulating background of 

 shrubs that I am gradually assembling for autumn effects. 

 The photograph shows but a small portion of it in a new raw 

 state, just as it was planted in late autumn. All about the 

 stump are planted wild clematis and tall ferns, and in the 

 corner of the first bed below the stump is a white variety of 

 Clematis Jackmanni. The upper right-hand bed, which is 

 a perfect Sahara, is set with Rudbeckia and Helianthus laii- 

 folius, both able to withstand any drought. The next just 

 below was a former nursery bed, and is reset with columbines, 

 blue lupines and meadow-rue, deep blue larkspur, white fox- 

 gloves, hollyhocks, perennial phlox and late asters. The 

 third and lowest bed is planted with Lychnis dioica rosea, 

 Paris daisy, Chrysanthemum maximum, white larkspur, 

 golden glow, Helianthus, Helen flower and perennial phlox, 

 with red Shirley poppies for a brilliant midsummer effect. 

 And this is the fruit of a moonlight vision. 



How varied the night effects are, seen under a crescent, or 

 full, or waning moon, with clear soft blue-gray sky, or flying 

 scud of cloud! How penetrating and tangible is the black 

 darkness that blots out everything! I shall never forget an 

 experience one starless night when a wild gale was blowing, 

 and a storm impended. I went out to gather a ripe poppy- 

 head that I had been saving and feared would be lost, and 

 my feet were guided by instinct, as it was pitch black. There 

 was something ghoulish in the clutching wind; the thick dark- 

 ness was choking and malevolent. A spirit of evil was 

 abroad and filled me with terror. I 'actually fled before 

 it, and ran breathless into the house. 



Instead of taking random pictures of any chance thing, I 

 urge lovers of flowers to make a study of them by means of the 

 camera. One may prefer to arrange cut flowers as a subject; 



