OCTOBER 139 



Most of the Primrose tribe divide pleasantly and 

 easily : the worst are the auricula section ; with these, 

 for outdoor planting, one often has to slice a main root 

 down to give a share of root to the offset. 



When one is digging up plants with running roots, 

 such as Gaultheria, Honeysuckle, Polygonum, Scotch 

 Briars, and many of the Bubus tribe, or what is better, 

 if one person is digging while another pulls up, it 

 never does for the one who is pulling to give a steady 

 haul ; this is sure to end in breakage, whereas a root 

 comes up willingly and unharmed in loosened ground 

 to a succession of firm but gentle tugs, and one soon 

 learns to suit the weight of the pulls to the strength 

 of the plant, and to find out its breaking strain. 



Towards the end of October outdoor flowers in any- 

 thing like quantity cannot be expected, and yet there 

 are patches of bloom here and there in nearly every 

 corner of the garden. The pretty Mediterranean Peri- 

 winkle {Vinca acutiflora) is in full bloom. As with 

 many another southern plant that in its own home 

 Hkes a cool and shady place, it prefers a sunny one in 

 our latitude. The flowers are of a pale and delicate 

 grey-blue colour, nearly as large as those of the com- 

 mon Vinca major, but they are borne more generously 

 as to numbers on radical shoots that form thick, healthy- 

 looking tufts of polished green foliage. It is not very 

 common in gardens, but distinctly desirable. 



In the bulb-beds the bright-yellow Sterribergia lutea 

 is in flower. At first sight it looks something like a 



