*| The Scented Qarden ^ 



fragrantissima, Berberis japonica var. Bealii, Ribes 

 sanguineum, Osmanihus Delavayi, Viburnum Carlesii, 

 Choisya ternata, Prunus Mume, Pyrus coronaria, and 

 lastly, and amongst the best of all, rosemary. 



Even in December and January the rosemary bushes 

 are full of buds, and in March, April and May, the long 

 branches are so thickly clustered with their lovely mauve- 

 blue aromatic flowers that at a distance the bushes look 

 as though they were wreathed in lavender-blue mist. 

 How the bees love these flowers ! On sunny days the 

 bee-music never ceases amongst them, and seems to add 

 even greater richness to their warm, pungent fragrance. 

 It is difficult to understand people who clip rosemary 

 into trim, tidy bushes. Pruning it to prevent the plant 

 from growing too straggly is one thing, but to keep it so 

 trim that one loses the beauty of its long branches laden 

 with flowers, especially when one considers how long 

 they last in bloom, seems sheer foolishness. There is an 

 erect-growing variety of rosemary, but I think the old- 

 fashioned kind, formerly prized for its medicinal qualities, 

 is the more attractive. R. prostrata, being dwarf, and 

 spreading, is charming on a rockery. It does not flower 

 till April or May and is not very hardy. Rosmarinus 

 angustifolius, the thin-leaved rosemary, makes a more 

 ' feathery ' bush and a large specimen of it is very attrac- 

 tive. I once saw bushes of it growing all along the edge of 

 a sunk garden, and in flower they were a lovely sight. 



Mr. Trower, of ' Wiggie ' fame, pointed out to me one 

 day a bush of rosemary growing in his garden and told me 

 its ' pedigree.' When George Eliot went to Stratford-on- 

 Avon she was given a sprig of rosemary, from a bush said 

 to have been there in Shakespeare's day. She took it back 

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