JANUARY 17 



are arrjinged in flat sheaves after the manner of a flag- 

 Iris. I pull up a whole plant at a time — a two-year- 

 old plant is a spreading tuft of the little sheaves — and 

 wash it and cut away the groups of leaves just at the 

 root, so that they are held together by the root-stock. 

 They last long in water, and are beautiful with Roman 

 Hyacinths or Freesias or Iris stylosa and many other 

 flowers. The leaves of Megaseas, especially those of 

 the cordifolia section, colour grandly in winter, and 

 look tine in a large bowl with the largest blooms of 

 Christmas Roses, or with forced Hyacinths. Much 

 useful material can be found among Ivies, both of 

 the wild and garden kinds. When they are well 

 established they generally throw out rather woody 

 front shoots; these are the ones to look out for, as 

 they stand out with a certain degree of stifihess that 

 makes them easier to arrange than weaker trailing 

 pieces. 



I do not much care for dried flowers — the bulrush 

 and pampas-grass decoration has been so much over- 

 done, that it has become wearisome — but I make an 

 exception in favour of the flower of Evlalia zehrina, 

 and always give it a place. It does not come to its 

 full beauty out of doors ; it only finishes its growth 

 late in October, and therefore does not have time to dry 

 and expand. I grew it for many years before finding 

 out that the closed and rather draggled-looking heads 

 would open perfectly in a warm room. The uppermost 

 leaf often confines the flower, and should be taken off 



