Leaves from a Jladeira Garden 



now superb. Their splendour is due not to 

 the flower proper, which is insignificant, but to 

 the coloured bracts which surround it. Four 

 or five species flourish here — purple, rose, red, 

 and mauve. The purple is the strongest 

 grower, and produces the most startling mass 

 of colour — perhaps unrivalled in Nature ; it 

 may be that the rose, which is more uncommon 

 and less sturdy, is the loveliest. But each has 

 its votaries, and the wise will be content to 

 admire all without setting one above the others. 

 The beautiful blue-grey Thuyihergia is in flower, 

 but not in its full pride ; and among less 

 prominent climbers the scarlet passion-flower 

 and a delicate mauve Solanum attract atten- 

 tion. The '' Morning Glory," unique among 

 flowering plants for the sheen of its steely 

 blue, is passing. Coba'a scandens clothes 

 our verandah with a never-failing wealth of 

 graceful bloom, and with it mixes a dainty 

 climbing asparagus covered now with small 

 white flowers. 



Among orchids, the great pots of various 

 Cypripedia^ which for the last month have 

 decorated our drawing-room, are beginning to 

 show signs of wear. Of these perhaps the 



66 



