142 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 



down the middle ; wide herbaceous borders on each side, 

 with low plants in front and tall ones behind ; and at the 

 back of these again, on each side, was the kitchen garden 

 Gooseberries, Currants, and Raspberries, and in between 

 all the usual kitchen-garden vegetables ; beyond that was 

 a small cinder-path, and then a wall on either side, shutting 

 off the neighbours. One wall faced nearly north and the 

 other nearly south. The long garden, stretching from the 

 house eastward and westward, was ended by the river ; 

 the tall spires of the cathedral towered behind the house. 

 I have often thought that the same disposition of an 

 oblong piece of ground would turn a depressing 

 laurel-planted suburban garden into a thing of joy and 

 beauty, even without the cathedral towers and the swift, 

 clear, running river. 



One of the most beautiful of late summer plants I 

 see my friends often fail with it is the Lobelia cardinalis 

 and L. fulgens, Queen Victoria. It is generally injured by 

 kindness, sown in the early spring, drawn up in green- 

 houses, and planted out weak and straggling, when it does 

 nothing. It is a North American bog-plant, where it lies 

 frost-bound for months, so it is not cold that kills it ; 

 but it likes a long rest. I generally take up my old plants 

 and keep them very dry in a box in a frame, planting them 

 out at the end of March or early in April, before they 

 begin to grow at all. It is letting them grow on in the 

 boxes that brings the disease and rust. Every year we 

 sow a small patch of both kinds out of doors in June or 

 July, and these young plants survive the winter perfectly. 

 Dear youth ! What a power it is to those that have it, 

 even among plants ! In spring these plants are put where 

 they are wanted to flower. If they are in a dry place, I 

 am bound to say they require plenty of water when once 

 they really begin to grow. They look very well in autumn 

 growing out of a fine spreading base of Mrs. Sinkins 



