XVI 



SEPTEMBER 



THE COLOURS OF FLOWERS 



September 5. The garden change between late 

 August and early September is in degree of ripe- 

 ness only. Two weeks ago the annuals pleaded 

 their cause most eloquently by their cheerful profu- 

 sion. Now a storm of a night and day that threat- 

 ened to bring cool weather, but merely passed 

 over leaving a wake of yellow haze, has well-nigh 

 stripped these summer flowers of their fleeting 

 finery. Everywhere the seed pods raised above 

 the fallen petals make their bids for perpetuity, 

 while the early-blooming, hardy plants that escaped 

 trimming, like foxgloves and sweet William, are 

 already surrounded by a colony of downy, tender 

 green seedlings. 



" Pods are the poppies, and slender spires of pods 

 The hollyhocks." 



The alcove of camelia balsams is quite dishev- 

 elled, and the pointed, cocoon-like pods, from which 



