78 MY SHRUBS 



arrests the most casual spectator. From the Cape it comes, 

 and would seem to be hardier than most of it congeners. This 

 honey flower is not great in the matter of blossom, and its 

 long, red-brown bloom-spike does in no way add to its charm. 

 The stems are hollow, and if winter brings disaster, you can 

 cut the shrub down, mulch the remains, and trust it to spring up 

 cheerfully again. M. pectinatus must be a choice addition to 

 the greenhouse, but I know it not save by repute. M. minor 

 has pink flowers, and needs the comfort of a cold house. 



Meliosma myriantha came, saw, and perished ; but this 

 Japanese plant should stand with us, and must be attempted 

 again, for it succeeds in the gardens of Cornwall. 



Melicytus ramiflorus, from New Zealand, is a hardy little 

 evergreen with good foliage and trim habit ; but my piece has 

 not revealed its white flowers yet. 



The Menziesias do not flourish here. M. empetriformis should 

 be a very beautiful little shrub when well grown. It comes 

 from the North-West States of America, and is smaller than 

 M. polifolia, the Irish heath. 



Menispermum canadense has handsome foliage, and climbs 

 quickly in half shade. It flowers with small tassels of mean 

 inflorescence, but I have never seen the seed, which gives the 

 Moon Creeper its name. 



A neat Mesembryanthemum, and the hardiest that I know, is 

 M. uncinatum, with stiff shrubby habit and pink flowers in 

 August. Doubtless there are others of the Fig Marigolds that 

 would do equally well, and M. edule, the great Hottentot fig, 

 sprawls over our rockeries and opens its pale yellow flower very 

 generously. My heart has never gone out to this huge family. 



