286 THE GARDEN OF A 



they crowd themselves out, the flower clusters grow 

 small, while they lapse to the parent colours from 

 which they were hybridized more rapidly than other 

 hardy plants. Now are the nasturtiums rampant, and 

 their trellis seems consumed with a flame that reach- 

 ing over has caught the salvia tips. The annuals that 

 I bought from the "Yellow Journal" catalogue are 

 making a fine showing, having an alcove all to them- 

 selves, and Evan almost acknowledges that the 

 Pekin Perfection Carnation Poppy is gorgeous, "at 

 least at present," he added cynically. 



The first planting of gladiolus is in bloom, and I 

 have been surprised and fascinated by the beauty of 

 the new hybrids. Here, too, the range of colour 

 covers everything but blue, and the exquisitely shaded 

 and veined flowers, no longer contracted and stiff, 

 but winged and poised gracefully on the stalks, seem 

 more like a new discovery than a development. 



The moon gets up late nowadays, having a slant- 

 wise, rakish look, and I am often tempted to leave 

 bed for my window where I could sit for hours listen- 

 ing to the owlets' shivery laugh and looking down 

 at the groups of striped and spotted eulalia that 

 shimmer like fountains in the moonlight. Delia, 

 who is to be married on Sunday evening, she having 

 failed to get her dispensation owing to the reluctance 



