CHAPTER VIII 



JULY 



Scarcity of flowers — DelpHniums — Yuccas — Cottager's way of pro- 

 tecting tender plants — Alstromerias — Carnations — Gypeophila 

 — Lilium gigantevm — Cutting fern-pegs. 



After the wealth of bloom of June, there appear to 

 be but few flowers in the garden ; there seems to be 

 a time of comparative emptiness between the earlier 

 flowers and those of autumn. It is true that in the 

 early days of July we have Delphiniums, the grandest 

 blues of the flower year. They are in two main 

 groups in the flower border, one of them nearly all of 

 the palest kiud — not a solid clump, but with a thicker 

 nucleus, thinning away for several yards right and 

 left. Only white and pale-yellow flowers are grouped 

 with this, and pale, fresh-looking foliage of maize and 

 Funkia. The other group is at some distance, at the 

 extreme western end. This is of the full and deeper 

 blues, followiug a clump of Yuccas, and grouped about 

 with things of important silvery foliage, such as Globe 

 Artichoke and Silver Thistle (Uryngium). I have 

 found it satisfactory to grow Delphiniums from seed, 

 choosing the fine strong " Cantab " as the seed-parent, 



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