COLOUR IN MY GARDEN 



hoar frost and have christened it Frost Bloom; and indeed 

 where it covers a dry bank beneath great maple trees near 

 our home one might well imagine that the white invader 

 had arrived in strength and pitched his silvered tents. Its 

 height is variable, from one to three feet, but its stems are 

 so willowy and slender that we seldom see it upright. I 

 have used it here with nice results as an underplanting to 

 shrubs, and at no time is the shrubbery so attractive as 

 when it shows the silver hem of Frost Bloom beneath its 

 reddening garment. Aster cordifolius has its being also in 

 an improved state. Lists of named varieties are given in 

 some catalogues, but I have not seen them. Ideal is said 

 to bloom in October; Photograph is a pale blue-lavender sort; 

 Profusion, Diana, and Sweet Lavender all sound delightful. 

 Of course these improved varieties are best for the flower 

 borders, but for wild shaded banks, the shrubbery, and in 

 half-waste places, the Frost Bloom with its wayward charm 

 is surely the loveliest. 



My other favourite, A. linariifolius, is a bristly, tufted 

 little plant, not more than a foot in height. Its rough, 

 erect stems are closely set with narrow, stiff leaves, and bear 

 a single lavender flower of a peculiar porcelain-like quality. 

 I cannot learn that this little Aster is handled by the trade. 

 We find it in an abandoned upland pasture where slim Red 

 Cedars, sure followers upon the heels of neglect, and spread- 

 ing Dogwoods have claimed the land. There growing 

 thriftily in the dry grass between sumptuous spreads of 

 Fringed Gentian we find now and then a tuft of Aster 

 linariifolius. I have never found it in any quantity. I have 

 brought it into the flower garden, planting it along the edge 



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