44 MY GARDEN 



and one may easily forget the pink Sweet William grow- 

 ing beside the flaming Oriental Poppies and discords of 

 a like nature, if one does not "put it down." It is easy 

 to see possibilities of new beauties when the garden is in 

 full bloom, but very difficult when it is bare and brown, 

 or when one has only a paper plan to go by. So as each 

 season comes to full development we try to work out the 

 improvements, making note of such plants as mar the 

 general effect, as well as those that we feel would en- 

 hance it, or create some especially lovely picture. In 

 this book also may be found a careful description of 

 every growing thing in the garden, derived, not from 

 catalogues or books, but from personal observation in 

 our own garden its height, colour, habit of growth, 

 time and length of blooming, and any facts concerning 

 it worthy of note. All this is most invaluable data, con- 

 stantly turned to. 



Another book, which we call the "Country Miscel- 

 lany," is kept, and is probably more interesting than use- 

 ful. It is the repository for all sorts of facts and fancies 

 concerning gardens, plants, and country matters gen- 

 erally. Old recipes for home-made remedies, per- 

 fumes, wines, and cordials; local superstitions regarding 

 plants and their uses, quotations from the flower-loving 

 poets, accounts of gardens visited, quaint flower names 

 and much more. 



Both books are well thumbed and smeared with soil; 

 between the pages lie sprigs of Thyme and the long, 



