THE GARDEN IN AUTUMN 



115 



cends everything in Nature's realm ! And 

 it is not only in the trees and shrubs 

 that this sublime colour display is seen, 

 although there, of course, it is most 

 prominent, lor the leaves of many a weed 

 and wastrel plant 

 pass to their death 

 in dress of ex- 

 quisite dye. 



But Nature's 

 own garden de- 

 pends not quite 

 alone on changing 

 leaves for autunm 

 charm ; some of 

 her wild plants 

 show a rich beauty 

 when the sun sinks 

 in the heavens and 

 the nights are cold 

 and chill. There 

 is the Traveller's 

 Joy or Old Man's 

 Beard, as the way- 

 side Clematis is 

 variously called, 

 never more beauti- 

 ful than when the 

 flowers have given 

 way to the feathery 

 fruits that cover 

 the giant shoots 

 from tip to base 

 with a soft grey 

 shroud. How per- 

 fectly they accord 

 with the environ- 

 ment of the 

 countryside in 

 autumn — of Na- 

 ture's great garden 

 of leaf and blossf)m 

 — with changing 

 leaves and the 

 ripening fruits of 

 Blackberry, Sloe, 



Crab, Thorn and Wild Rose. Even the 

 hedgerows have their autumn beauty ; 

 the orange -red fruits of the Cuckoo 

 Pint or wild Arum Lily peep out from 

 the roadside ditch as if an.xious to 

 show themselves to the ])asser-by — little 

 clusters of rich colour amid deatl and 

 dying weeds. The fruits of Bryony, 

 Honeysuckle, Dog Roses, — these and 

 others less familiar make even a 



wayside hedge a thing beautiful to look 

 upon. 



It is in the garden proper that autumn 

 flowers are seen at their best, for the 

 countryside depends for its chief beauty 



LATE AUTUMN 



SHROPSHIRE FARMHOUSE GARDEN. 



on the glow of the dying leaves. Within 

 the garden it is ditterent, although the 

 woodland trees that encompass it provide 

 a feast of colour and an ideal fringe. 

 Within there is blossom in abundance, 

 real autunm flowers that open only to tiie 

 misty days and dewy nights. Perhaps 

 finest of all true autumn flowers are the 

 Michaelmas Daisies that give so prt)digally 

 of soft-toned blossoms which hide the 



