COLOUR IN MY GARDEN 



carries its flat pink and gray lace flower heads upon slender 

 stems four feet tall, waving them above the scarlet Oriental 

 Poppies, the soft-toned Irises, the rows of smart Sweet 

 Williams, enhancing the special quality of beauty in all. 

 Many speak against it because it spreads with such ardent 

 enthusiasm, but its mats of roots are so easily pulled out 

 that this is no drawback and if one leaves a bit here and 

 there to survive and expand its lace like flower head we are 

 sure to give it a welcome. 



Later in the season Gypsophila lends its gossamer blos- 

 soming to the same end, and later still the great Sea Laven- 

 der (Statice latifolia), with its mistlike lavender flower heads, 

 gives a touch of lightness to the robust physiognomy of 

 August. Statice incana and S. eximia are white-flowered 

 Sea Lavenders with the same airy inflorescence. These 

 plants should be left long in one place without disturbance 

 as it is only after several years that they become fully 

 effective. 



Columbines, with their poised blossoms and streaming 

 spurs, are charmingly buoyant in effect. They are the most 

 enchanting of flowers. Even the debonair little red-and- 

 yellow native sort that we are so glad to meet upon our 

 April walks, rollicking over a great brooding rock, is fit to 

 be brought into the garden to shine among the best. It 

 seems pleased to come for it seeds itself about most gra- 

 ciously, setting up little colonies here and there and flowering 

 gaily among the Arabis and Aubrietias — its jaunty colour 

 scheme only rivalled in the spring garden by Crown Im- 

 perials and scarlet Tulips. 



Two other fine Columbines are native to the United 



83 



