PERENNIALS 237 



have discarded Polygonum Sachalinense because it multiplies too 

 fast. An English gardener told me that, if you will pull the 

 suckers, hardly any will be formed after the third year. And if 

 you confine the plant to three stems and feed heavily it will make 

 an extra tall and thick bush, and arch so gracefully that you may 

 use it as a specimen plant on the lawn. Could we not make some 

 extraordinary pictures by applying this principle to the per- 

 ennial sunflowers and the plume poppies or bocconias? Other tall 

 plants of rough or coarse habit that make very striking pictures in 

 English wild gardens are the giant silver thistles (Onopordon and 

 the like), the compass plants or silphiums, and the metallic blue 

 globe thistles and sea hollies. 



I often saw great clumps of moon daisy (Chrysanthemum 

 uliginosum) reflected in the water. This plant never attains mag- 

 nificent proportions in a border unless it is given an extra supply of 

 water. A big colony by the waterside holding up thousands of 

 great white daisies at a height of six feet is a vision of beauty. 



The greatest of all waterside effects in England is the titanic 

 foliage of Gunnera, the leaves attaining a maximum breadth of 

 eleven feet. This is not hardy with us. The biggest leaf we can 

 have is that of Rheum Collinianum. 



Of all the tall perennials I saw by the waterside in England, 

 the most refined, it seemed to me, was Polygonum Sieboldii or 

 cuspidatum. 



PICTURES CONTAINING LIFE 



The brooding peace of secluded English gardens is made 

 sweeter by the presence of white doves. The magnificence of 

 others is enhanced by the presence of peacocks. We ought to 

 attract song birds to the garden by providing a drinking and bath- 

 ing place for them. I cannot even hint at other ways of bringing 



