8 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 



sold in mixed packets ; we sow them at the end of April 

 grow them on in heat, and plant them out at quite the 

 end of May. In fact, we treat them exactly as you would 

 Vegetable-marrows, only we train them over a fence. 



On the backs of my armchairs are thin Liberty silk 

 oblong bags, like miniature saddle-bags, filled with dried 

 Lavender, Sweet Verbena, and Sweet Geranium leaves. 

 This mixture is much more fragrant than the Lavender 

 alone. The visitor who leans back in his chair wonders 

 from where the sweet scent comes. 



On the side ledge of two large windows % have pots 

 of the common Ivy of our hedges. We dig it up any time 

 in the spring, and put it into the pots, which are then 

 sunk into the ground under the shade of some wall, and 

 kept well watered. Before bringing it into the room in 

 winter, it is trained up on an iron stake or Bamboo-cane, 

 singly or in bunches, to give variety to its shapes. If kept 

 tolerably clean and watered, this Ivy is practically unkill- 

 able, even in London. 



Then there are some pots of the long-suffering Aspidis- 

 tras, the two kinds — variegated and dark green. These also 

 want nothing but plenty of water, and sponging the dust 

 off the leaves twice a week. They make pretty pot-plants 

 if attended to during the summer in the country. They 

 should be weU thinned out and every injured leaf cut off, 

 tied together towards the middle, kept growing all the 

 summer in the greenhouse, and encouraged to grow tall ; 

 they are then more graceful and satisfactory. They 

 seldom want dividing or re-potting. I have two sorts of 

 India-rubber plants — the large-leaved, straight-growing 

 common Ficus elastica,^ and the Ficus elastica indica, 

 which is a little more delicate, and the better for more 

 heat in summer ; but it has a smaller leaf, and grows in a 

 much more charming way than the other. Keeping the 

 leaves very clean is of paramount importance with both 



