74 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 



in January, are doing so still : so are the Arums, 

 which people insist on calling ' LUies.' They are not 

 lilies at all, but belong to the same family as the ' Lords 

 and Ladies ' and ' Cuckoo Pint ' of our hedges. The 

 large greenhouse Arums come from the Cape, where they 

 are an absolute weed, appearing wherever the ground is 

 disturbed or turned up. They are there called Pig LiUes, 

 perhaps because they feed the pigs on the roots. In the 

 damp places, I am told, they are magnificent, growing 

 finer and larger than they ever do in pots in England ; 

 at the same time, when they come up in dry and heathy 

 places, they are perfect miniature plants with delicate 

 little flowers lite shells. Arums in pots require lots of 

 water while growing and flowering, and are better for a 

 saucer to hold it. 



A beautiful crimson Amaryllis, which I brought back 

 from Guernsey some years ago, is in flower. It has never 

 flowered before ; but we understand so much better than 

 we did the drying and ripening in the sun of all the Cape 

 bulbs, and this makes the whole difference to their 

 ■ flowering. 



April 3rd. — This is the time of year when we make up 

 our nursery, which I consider one of the most important 

 gardening acts of the whole year, and one most fruitful 

 in results. We take up, from wherever they happen to 

 have been left last autumn, herbaceous Phloxes, early 

 outdoor Chrysanthemums, and Michaelmas Daisies. 

 These are broken up into small pieces, according to the 

 number of plants that are likely to be wanted in the 

 borders or to give away, and planted in rows in a half- 

 shady corner of the kitchen garden. Here they are left 

 to grow and increase tUl some wet day in July, when 

 they are planted in bold masses where they are to 

 flower. They really move better in dry weather than in 

 wet, and I say a wet day merely because it reduces the 



