JANUARY 167 



little protected by other shrubs, they flower as freely as 

 the common one, and the flower, even out of doors, is 

 larger and whiter. 



After marking Button's list I mark Thompson's, as some 

 of the flower-seeds are best sown early in January. The 

 difficulty about sowing seeds early is that they want care 

 and protection for a long time after sowing and before they 

 can be put out. We are able to sow the hardier annuals 

 here by the middle of March, especially Poppies, Corn- 

 flowers, Love-in-the-Mist, Gypsophila, etc. I am sure that, 

 in this light soil, the second sowing in April never does so 

 well for early-flowering annuals. Autumn things, on the 

 contrary, are best not sown till May, or they come on too 

 early. I never sow Salpiglossis or Nemesia out of doors 

 and in place till the beginning of May. In favourable 

 weather Sweet-peas may be sown, like Green Peas, in a 

 trench out of doors very early in the year. 



One of my kind correspondents said she observed I 

 was not so rich in blue flowers as was desirable, and 

 named the following. I mean to get all those I do not 

 already possess. Commelina ccelestis, Anchusa italica, A. 

 capensis, A. sempervirens, Parochetus communis, Phacelia 

 campamdaria. Commelina co&lestis does very well in a dry 

 back-garden of a London house. Browallia elata is a 

 most useful annual, and there is a good picture of it in 

 Curtis's ' Botanical Magazine.' Catananche c&rulea is an 

 old border perennial, and I have it. Linaria reticulata 

 is a pretty, small annual ; so is L. aureo-purpurea and 

 L. bipartita. Omphalodes lucilia I have tried to get, but 

 failed, and mean to grow it from seed. 



January 8th. I have read once or twice in the news- 

 papers that butterflies have been seen from time to time 

 this mild winter, and now this morning I have caught sight 

 of one of these Press butterflies, a beautiful large yellow 

 one, floating over the field as if it were summer. 



