SCOTCH NOTES 
The striking JN Scotch gardens three great characteristics appear to strike 
Features the visitor before all others—the wealth of flower, the 
of Scotch picturesque setting of the gardens, and their lasting power 
Gardens ito Jate autumn. 
The wealth of flower, and luxuriance of growth, give the 
plants a look of healthy contentment with their surroundings, 
which is very pleasant. Inevitably a comparison is made with 
the gardens of my own part of England, East Kent, which is 
rich in sunshine, but has by reputation almost the lowest rainfall 
in Great Britain. More and more I am coming to the conclusion 
that rain is a far more important consideration to gardens than 
sun, and that one of the lesser advantages that a gardener gains 
in life is his thorough enjoyment of a rainy day! Even this 
last wet summer has not shaken my belief in this theory. On 
our shallow soil, with the chalk only a foot or so below, 
we have not had a shower too much. Annuals and 
herbaceous plants have done twice as well as usual, and 
though I must confess that Roses could have done with less 
wet when in summer flower, their autumn bloom is fine, and 
I have never seen stronger growth made in the season, and such 
fine heads of buds. This greater luxuriance where moisture 
is found strikes one in the west of England, and, to a still 
larger extent, in Ireland, which notoriously has more rain and 
less sun than we have. Plants like Myrtles, which one has been 
accustomed to think needed sun to make them flower, grow into 
trees, and clothe themselves in August with starry white blossoms, 
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