28 MY GARDEN 



light in summer. The structure has no walls, but 

 is supported by red brick pillars ; and outside it 

 run two tiers of beds semicircled to the shape of 

 the edifice. On the right of the garden-room stands 

 a ginkgo, in foliage like an enormous maiden- 

 hair fern, and, close by, the cercis makes a bright 

 rosy cloud with its inflorescence in spring-time. 

 Below it ceanothus, "gloire de Versailles," prospers 

 in the arms of the Judas tree. To the left is a very 

 warm and snug corner. Here, in the lew, as we say, 

 stands a prosperous acacia. Its glaucous green comes 

 very beautifully against a bank of escallonia behind ; 

 it flowers industriously, but the quality of the bloom 

 is uncertain, for our spring weather too often ruins 

 it. At the feet of this monarch of my garden, 

 melianthus major, the Cape honey flower, prospers 

 with lovely sea-green foliage, and a young chamaerops 

 Fortunei thrives close by. This Chusan palm is, of 

 course, perfectly hardy in the west country. I have 

 only room for one, but, where space happens to be 

 no object, they should be turned freely into the open 

 air as soon as they get too large and clumsy for 

 ordinary pot management. A cousin of mine, who 

 is a gardener of distinction, when she finds that a 

 few of these palms are beginning to defy manage- 

 ment, turns them out of doors and plants them in 

 threes at the corners of large triangular beds. Seen 

 thus, they present a very imposing appearance. 

 During summer, palms should be supported with 

 musa, or, failing him, with cannas in variety, with 

 caladium esculentum, clumps of agapanthus, and 



