70 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 



APRIL 



Whims of the weather — Spring flowers — The herbaceous nursery — 

 Love for the garden — A light sprayer— Homely French receipts 

 — French gardening — The late frosts. 



April 2nd. — We came down to our little Surrey garden, 

 only sixteen miles from London, for good yesterday ; and 

 though the wind be ever so cold and the skies ever so grey, 

 I %et feel that that which makes going to London worth 

 whj% is the joy of coming back again. The ceaseless 

 interest of a garden of this sort is in the variety, not only 

 of the plants, but in the actual growth caused by the 

 different seasons. This year the winter has been very 

 mild, and dry too, which is unusual— and then came a 

 very wet March, such as I do not remember since we have 

 lived in Surrey, these fourteen years. It is really amusing 

 to watch aU that happens consequent on these whims of 

 the weather ; the early and late, the wet and the dry, 

 all making immense difference in the plants. Some are 

 successful one year, and some another. 



Nothing is more charming justnow than theForsythias. 

 They are absolutely hardy, but they flower best on walls, 

 even a north one, as the birds are extremely fond of the 

 buds and can get at them much better when the plant is 

 grown as a bush. The birds always seem to be extra- 

 ordinarily destructive in this garden ; but I see that most 

 gardeners, in their books, make the same complaint, and 

 rather apologise to the common-sense of their readers for 

 cherishing and feeding instead of destroying them. In 



