COMMUTER'S WIFE 317 



had a half-shady exposure. The wall flowers are 

 growing more bushy and profuse, while the last plant- 

 ing of gladioli, by chance wholly lacking in pink tints, 

 is striving to rival nasturtiums and salvia in colour. 



The white panicled-flowered clematis, though in its 

 first year, is covering the end of the honeysuckle 

 wall, where it is entrenched, with snow. Yet the 

 distinctive character of the September garden is to 

 be found in two species that divide the honours of 

 the month equally between them, the asters and 

 the Dahlias, once represented only by the neat but 

 rigid quilled species that have now been hybridized 

 into a dozen graceful forms and exquisite tints. 

 Though the cactus type of Dahlia is the most interest- 

 ing and individual, the long-stemmed single varieties 

 are very graceful, and when gathered are more amena- 

 ble to arrangement, while the large quilled rosettes 

 of splendid winey crimson and purple colours seem 

 in their turn unmatchable ; their velvet texture is the 

 garden's autumn robe donned at the first thought of 

 colder weather. 



I have tried the experiment of fastening my Dahlias 

 against a low trellis such as supports the nasturtiums 

 and sweet peas, and it is very satisfactory. Such 

 succulent plants are likely to be broken down and 

 bereft of many branches if merely secured to a stake. 



