Hydrangea Sa/via azurea grandiflora, Delphiniums, etc.; and among 
and creepers are many varieties of Ceanothus and the lovely Ipomea 
Veronica *#ére-carulea, For autumn Hydrangeas, Agapanthus and 
Plumbago are invaluable. Hydrangeas are very adaptable, 
thriving either in open sunny spots or in the shade of a wood. 
They are not hardy everywhere, and are more generally 
grown in Cornwall and Devonshire, but they do well here too. 
One fine old plant in a cottage garden is smothered in blue 
flowers every year, and, setting a fashion in the village, has 
supplied many an offspring to the front plots. Agapanthus and 
Plumbago need the shelter of a greenhouse in winter, but in 
summer look well standing out in tubs. They flower here till 
the end of October, blending harmoniously with the reds and 
purples of the various Vines. The Vine Aeterophyllus humifolia 
supplies, by the way, a wonderful touch of turquoise blue 
in its berries, if only there is sun enough to ripen them 
properly. 
The sketch illustrates a summer effect of Veronica, Anchusa 
and Delphinium, grouped with Campanula grandis and purple 
and white English Iris. Many of the herbaceous Veronicas, of 
which some flower early in the summer and some later, are a 
beautiful blue. V. amethystina, the variety illustrated, grows 
two to three feet high, and produces crowded spikes of tiny 
bright blue flowers at the end of June. V. gentianoides, an earlier 
variety with close dark green foliage, and pale blue or white 
spikes of flower about 10 inches in height, is a good rock garden 
plant, and I have seen it charmingly used as a foundation to a 
bed of Darwin Tulips. V. prostrata is a still better carpeting 
plant, making literally a sheet of blue in June, if on a soil it 
likes. Here, on our chalk, it refuses to grow, but seems to 
190 
