MY SHRUBS 39 



of the name, and they will support me. Indeed it is a criterion : 

 no really fine artist has a good digestion. I never met the great 

 novelist who would, save in a greedy moment, trust his system 

 with a gooseberry, or the distinguished painter who could 

 look at a mince-pie with kindly eyes. As for musicians of real 

 eminence heaven knows what they can eat. They drink, however, 

 and so preserve life. 



Decumaria barbara from decuma, a tenth, in reference to the 

 tenfold structure of some of the flowers comes from the United 

 States, and is almost evergreen on a wall in my garden. As to 

 the tenfold structure of the white flowers, I take it on trust. 

 But their trusses are fragrant and effective like a refined elder. 



Dendromecon rigidus is a splendid tree poppy from California, 

 hardy enough against a wall. It grows ten feet high, has glaucous 

 green foliage, and hangs out its yellow flowers at the point of the 

 shoots for nine months in the year. Desfontainea spinosa loves to 

 dwell in half shade and peat. It looks like a holly, but has splendid 

 trumpet-shaped scarlet and yellow flowers in August. From the 

 Andes it comes, and if the bloom tarries, despair not so long as 

 the plant is well. It grows slowly, and may take a year or two to 

 settle down. My piece demanded three years to reach blooming 

 size, but has been generous of blossom ever since. 



Desmodium penduliflorum is a Japanese herbaceous shrub, and 

 should be cut down after flowering ; but a nobler thing is D. 

 tilicejolium, a big climber with trifoliate leaves and innumerable 

 spikes of pale lilac blossom in August. This shrub I rate highly. 

 It is a tremendous grower, and to attain perfection should be 

 pruned hard after the fall of the leaf. To the race of Desmodium 

 belongs D. gyrans, that vegetable wonder from the East Indies, 



