Chapter lX^m<iARCH 

 The Garden in Spring 



*' When spring unlocks the flowers to paint the laughing soil."' 



Heber. 



DURING the last month the garden 

 I has lost some of the splendid 

 colouring which characterized it in 

 mid-winter. We have suffered 

 from no southerly gale, perhaps our worst 

 enemy in the way of weather, but we have had 

 much northerly wind, with snow on the hills, 

 and cold showers below. These will ulti- 

 mately have a good effect, but they have 

 retarded growth for the present, and the 

 spring blossoms seem to be later than usual. 



A notable feature of the past month has been 

 the flowering of a native plant, the " Pride of 

 Madeira," Echhim fastiiosum. It grows wild on 

 the sea-cliffs, and in greater luxuriance in 

 gardens. From a mass of grey foliage it 

 throws up a number of torch-shaped heads of 



i6s 



