a carpet as Exonymus varigata, or the more lovely rosy patches Chionodoxa 
of Cyclamen Coum, but could surely have no such beautiful ynder 
undergrowth as the blue of Chionodoxa or Scilla sibirica. The Shrybs 
Myrobalan Plum, Prunus cerasifera, also loaded with white 
blossom at this moment, would look equally well above a sheet 
of real sky blue. 
Many evergreens form also suitable backgrounds—the dark 
green foliage of the Ceanothus divaricatus, shown in the sketch, 
seemed particularly to add to the beauty of the blue. At Kew 
these shrubs have attained the height of small trees, and look as 
if they must be absolutely hardy, but newly planted bushes were 
with us seriously cut by the frost last winter. As a rule the 
varieties of Ceanothus, coming from a warm climate like that of 
California, are safest on a wall in a sunny position. Many 
of them unite the advantage of being evergreen with the 
beauty of their flowers, and are excellent for covering large 
surfaces. 
C. veitchianus clothes a wall with exquisite blue in May, 
and the glossy dark foliage is always neat and pretty. In certain 
places it does well as a shrub, even thriving on our north-east 
coast in a Yorkshire “slack,” and, with Veronica prostrata 
growing at its feet, makes a wonderful study in blues against 
the sea. Eccremocarpus scabra, on a wall where it will stand 
the winter, is a good neighbour for the Ceanothus, and produces 
its orange flowers and tendrils of fresh green at the same time. 
The bright blue C. papillosus also flowers in May, and should 
be grown near the cream variety velutinus. 
Later in the year follow many other varieties. 
C. azureus is hardier than either of the above, and has 
been the origin of several hybrids—Jndigo, a deep beautiful blue, 
gi 
