JFlotoevs ant) fruits of gutumn. 297 



intense color of flower with great beauty of 

 foliage and habit. So many species and varie- 

 ties exist that a list of them would become 

 tedious and confusing; the wild forms number 

 nearly a hundred, with garden hybrids and semi- 

 nal varieties innumerable. 



The big phloxes continue to be the most mag- 

 nificent flower of late September, the pure white 

 " Vierge Marie" and the coppery-red " Oberon " 

 showing superbly against a line of light-green and 

 purple-leaved Cannas. Above the copse the sink- 

 ing sun shines on the grand flower-heads of a long 

 row, and earlier and earlier every day lights up the 

 red trusses with intenser fire. The position is a 

 partially shaded one, the soil light sandy loam 

 well enriched, the plants five years old ; in this 

 position the grubs have scarcely troubled them. 

 The phlox exhales a delicate yet pronounced 

 odor, the sweetest-smelling flower of late au- 

 tumn after the auratums have passed, except 

 the fragrant double ten-weeks' stocks (Matthio- 

 la annua), the nutty odor of which it much re- 

 sembles. The floral opposite of the crocus, the 

 hardy colchicum or autumnal crocus, is now in 

 bloom, its brilliant purple appearing after the 

 leaves have died down, reversing the order of 

 the spring flower it resembles. Or is the col- 

 chicum really the first spring flower, appear- 

 21 



