NOVEMBER 87 



The stalks or canes of Michaelmas Daisies should be 

 cut down carefully, trimmed, and dried, as they make 

 excellent sticks for plants in pots or even out of doors, 

 and are well worth saving. 



November 3rd. A lady writes strongly recommending 

 a Tea-rose called ' Ma Capucine.' ' Such lovely red-scarlet 

 buds from June to December,' she says. This I have now 

 ordered. I have moved my white ' Lamarque Eose,' but I 

 cannot get it to do well here. The Dean of Rochester wrote 

 me a most kind letter reproaching me for saying I could 

 not grow Roses, and implying that the fault is mine. This 

 I know to be true, but the fact is I am so fond of variety 

 in flowers, as in all else, that I grudge too much room in 

 the garden being given to Roses ; and the attention and 

 hand-picking they require in the spring, when I am 

 very busy with other things, cause them to be neglected. 



Another correspondent from the north of London 

 wrote that I exaggerated the difficulty of growing Roses 

 near London. He says he has had good success with 

 his. But then he lives on heavy soil, and that makes an 

 extraordinary difference in their power of resisting their 

 enemies smoke, blight, etc. 



This year a Crimson Rambler that failed near a wall 

 (I believe they never do well on walls) has made prodigious 

 growth out in the open. I have cut out the old wood, 

 spread out the long shoots, and tied them down to 

 canes on either side, so as to increase the flowering 

 all along the branches. Underneath is a large bed of 

 1 Mrs. Simpkin ' Pinks, and I think the two together 

 will be pretty. 



November 7th. I am always being asked about green- 

 house plants, and how to get variety both for picking or 

 for ornamenting a small greenhouse next a room. It has 

 been rather the fashion of late to say : ' Oh ! I don't care 

 for greenhouse plants ; I only like hardy things.' This 



