STH OCTOBER. 



A WEEK of stormy weather with two hot days. This is a bad 

 spring : there is a wealth of blossom, but we can never enjoy 

 it, and the flowers are quickly over. In an old pear orchard 

 lower down the valley the tiny pale green leaves are breaking 

 through the white foam of blossom, and in my garden are some 

 thousands of white-flowered watsonias repeating the harmony 

 in white and green. Standing out boldly against these a kaffir- 

 boom (Erythrina) flashes forth its scarlet blossoms, and it too 

 has a sprinkling of young leaves among them. 



On the lower ground, which is never dry, the flowers are 

 coming out and there are great golden spikes of Wachendorfia 

 thyrsiflora showing up among its big clumps of yellow-green 

 pleated leaves. This is an excellent plant for the waterside 

 garden : it looks after itself and flourishes exceedingly, but 

 does not become a pest. 



The first crinums are out. These are the old Crinum longi- 

 folium (C. capense] which seems to be grown almost throughout 

 the world. Its big heads of pendulous lily-like blooms in white 

 or pale pink, striped with deep pink, are very handsome, and 

 it makes a fine plant for a big pot or tub in a conservatory. 

 The big seeds must be sown as they are ready to leave the 

 parent plant and it will be many years before they come to 

 flowering size ; but they do not require much attention. This 

 Crinum likes a good stiff soil rich in humus and should never 

 dry out. 



The gem of the genus Crinum is C. aquaticum (C. campanu- 

 latutn}. This one chooses to grow in 1 to 2 feet of still water, 

 and if the water dries up in winter it will do no harm. The 

 hanging bells are a rich deep pink, and the leaves not much 

 thicker than a rush, and as long as the water remains it will 

 go on blooming most of the summer. 



Another good water plant is Dipidaxtriqmtra. This lives in 

 vleis which dry up in summer, and blooms very early. It 

 belongs here at the Cape. I have heard it described as " peach 

 blossoms on hay " which gives quite a good idea of it. The 

 stems and leaves are thin and reed-like and the pink and white 



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