72 MY SHRUBS 
With Luculia gratissima I name one of the very best shrubs 
in my little group. This evergreen from the temperate Hima- 
layas is almost hardy, but since it makes up bud in late autumn 
and flowers during December and January, it cannot dwell all 
the year out of doors. Failing the border of a cold house, my 
plan has been to grow in a large pot, which is plunged in half 
shade on a peat bed during May, and taken in again when the 
trusses of bud have set at the end of October. At Christmas 
the bright pink and splendidly fragrant blossoms appear, and 
for a few red-letter days the plant joins the family circle. It 
then returns to the cold house, as the dry air of a dwelling-room 
daunts it. Among Luculia’s other virtues you may number the 
fact that the blossom cluster keeps pink and sweet and perfect 
for a month. One ought really to write a poem to Luculia, 
whose native name, Luculi, has happily been retained. There is 
a second species, L. pinceana, from the mountains of Khasia, 
which I know not. But the flower is white, and is said to possess 
even a richer fragrance than the Himalayan. Lose no time in 
securing this precious shrub. 
The tree lupin is a genial evergreen nobody for a spare 
corner. There are many varieties of Lupinus arboreus in 
cultivation, but none much better than the old yellow type. 
Gauntlett’s “Snow Queen,” however, is to be specially 
esteemed. By the way, I have a giant lupin here over seven 
feet high—a herbaceous purple variety grown from seed sent 
by a friend in Florida. The colour is not unpleasing, and 
the flower very fragrant. This enormous species might be 
crossed with some other lupin, and produce a great herbaceous 
hybrid. 
