92 BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS 



great favour is polyphyllus (many leaved) which grows about three 

 feet high, and has blue flowers. It is a very handsome plant, and an 

 accommodating one to boot, thriving in most soils, provided that they 

 are well manured. There are several varieties of it, including a white 

 (albus), a purple (Purple King), and a yellow (Somerset). 



Although the great majority of the Lupins are best propagated 

 by seed, division may have to be resorted to in the case of the 

 special perennial kinds, and if so it should be done in spring. 



Michaelmas Daisies. The flower gardener whose nature is im- 

 pressionable, and whose spirits fluctuate with the seasons and the 

 weather, is apt to feel a shade of depression attack him when 

 the summer flowers begin to fade. He does not love, as the 

 Norsemen of whom Rudyard Kipling sings in Puck of Poofcs 

 Hill do 



" The dear, dark days of winter-time." 



When his borders are a mere sombre stretch of bare earth they 

 contrast painfully with the beauty of the summer. The passing 

 of the earlier flowers is a reminder, and a disagreeable one, that 

 the period of bareness has to come. But it can be shortened (and 

 this is a cheering thought for the impressionist) by providing 

 plants of which the flowering period is naturally late. They are 

 not a numerous band, but they are a very powerful one all the 

 same, because they include Dahlias, Chrysanthemums, and Michael- 

 mas Daisies. Each of these noble plants is a host in itself. It 

 has vigour of growth, free blooming, and bright, varied colours. 

 The Michaelmas Daisy is perhaps the most valuable of the three. 

 It has been dealt with fully under Aster. 



Ox-eye and Pyrenean Daisies. These useful plants are Chrys- 

 anthemums. The Ox-eye Daisy is C. Leucanthemnm, and the 

 Pyrenean Daisy (also referred to under Chrysanthemum) is C. 

 maximum. The Ox-eye Daisy grows about two feet high, and 

 has white flowers ; the Pyrenean Daisy is a little taller, and is 

 also white. These great perennial Daisies have not sufficient 



