THE OPPORTUNITIES OF THE YEAR 209 



and there June lupines, less ambitious than the 

 larkspurs, with delicate fingered leaves, held up 

 spikes of amethyst ; and in July the Italian alkanet 

 the Dropmore variety had not yet found itself 

 gave a brilliant revival of the favourite colour. Yet 

 there were others beside blue flowers. As one 

 looked along the line, groups of lovely pasonies, 

 blush-tinted, or cream, or purely white, held up 

 their dainty heads, and a great tree lupine which 

 filled up a corner hard by, as evening drew slowly 

 on seemed almost to flicker with lambent light. 

 There were plenty of daisy flowers pyrethrums, 

 chrysanthemums of the moon-daisy sort, lilac sten- 

 actis, and white marguerites, most cheery and 

 heartening of all, to enliven that border, and nestle 

 up against silver-leaved cardoons and lavender. 

 How tempting it was sometimes to pull off the 

 spotted cones of the trailing cenotheras, and set 

 free the pale primrose or filmy white of their folded 

 petals long before the westering sun gave leave; 

 or, in morning hours, how pretty to watch the 

 green mantle gently fall apart to release the 

 crumpled silk of the French poppies ! For in such 

 surroundings the heart sings as we go lightly from 

 flower to flower, and even the old feel young as 

 they greet the friends of many summers and learn 

 to love some that are new. 



To fill up the cup of midsummer delights come 

 the roses. The tiny buff bouquets of the Banksias 

 lead the way, where they can cling to the shelter 

 of house or wall ; and these are followed by one 

 of the loveliest single roses of early summer, the 

 pink-cupped R. sinica anemone. But these are 



