Ceanothus, or " Mountain Sweet " 



might not also be induced to grace gardens on 

 his side of the Channel. It appeared that the plant 

 was one of the treasures that Captain Baudin, the 

 French explorer, had recently brought back from his 

 voyage to Central America, and that it was a native of 

 Mexico. No time was lost in bringing it into 

 England, for we hear of it as flowering two seasons 

 later in the garden of those enterprising nurserymen, 

 Messrs. Loddiges, at Hackney, having been procured 

 " from our friend Mr. Parmentier, of Engheim." But 

 they were wrong when they prophesied it would pro- 

 bably be a very scarce plant, especially as there was 

 difficulty in propagating it, for, though it has been a 

 long time in coming to its own in the matter of 

 popularity, yet now in the present increased interest in 

 shrubs, it is proving to be comparatively hardy, quite 

 easily propagated, and non-fastidious as to its situation 

 so long as the soil is not too clayey. Indeed, long ago 

 Loudon recorded that it lived through that terrible 

 winter of 1837-38, when even the Thames was frozen 

 over and so much plant life was injured, though 

 naturally it suffered. It is a shrub that should be 

 attempted in every garden that offers any amenity of 

 climate at all, for it will probably succeed as a wall- 

 plant even if it does not as a bush. Other varieties 

 than " Gloire de Versailles " are known, some with a 



deeper blue flower, some with pink, but it is for its 

 G 85 



