A GARDEN DIARY 57 
Here cistuses of various kinds have their home, 
and, being fairly sheltered, do well, though 
several require remembering in the winter. I 
find the same to be the case here with regard to 
the rosemaries, especially the younger plants, as 
they grow older they seem to harden. Lavenders 
fortunately are safe everywhere, in all weathers, 
and the same may be said of Skimmia japonica 
and Fortunei, two of the most satisfactory of 
small winter-flowering shrubs. These with a few 
tufts of Andromeda floribunda, and a small jungle 
of alpine rhododendron, bring us up to the azalea 
corner. 
All these plants, especially the more recently 
planted ones, will need pretty constant looking 
after during the next year or so, but once that 
crucial period of their existence is over, it is 
my hope—possibly only my delusion—that they 
will learn so to arrange their affairs as merely 
to require the sort of attention that is necessary 
to see that they do not overcrowd one another, 
or—what is more serious—become invaded by 
wild neighbours, rose-campions, and the like, 
swarming in upon them to the point of suffo- 
cation. The safest way of avoiding this is un- 
doubtedly to cover the ground with low, carpeting 
growths, which will remain green nearly all the 
year round, and at the same time not make too 
severe a demand upon the soil. The number 
of such kindly little evergreens, or semi-ever- 
