218 MY GARDEN 



the garden. I like to see my children tying the Caly- 

 canthus blossoms in their grimy little handkerchiefs, for 

 I feel sure they will one day be as glad as I for a pass- 

 port which will admit them once more to the sheltered 

 garden of their childhood. 



Friend Althaea is about the most accommodating 

 shrub of my acquaintance. Even life in a city back- 

 yard, where it is peppered with dust and soot and where 

 the air it breathes is far from pure, does not alter its de- 

 termination to grow and be beautiful. I like the single 

 Althaeas best, but the doubles are pretty enough, and 

 generally preferred. The colours go from white to deep 

 rose and maroon, and there are some nice purplish and 

 lilac shades which are particularly effective against stone 

 walls or gray stucco houses. Hibiscus syriacus is its 

 proper name, and it is also called Rose of Sharon. The 

 trees are strong and woody, and reach a height of ten feet. 



Another shrub of mid-summer and early fall is the 

 Hardy Hydrangea, which, in a small garden, is rather 

 like the proverbial bull in a China shop, clumsy and un- 

 manageable, owing to the great size of its blossoms, 

 which are out of scale with the bush and with most 

 things in its vicinity. It is, in the language of the cat- 

 alogues, "a grand specimen shrub," and as such it is too 

 frequently used to the desecration of what would other- 

 wise be a pleasant lawn. Massed against tall ever- 

 greens or sweeping along a driveway the Hardy Hy- 

 drangea acquires a certain dignity and power, and to my 



