WHERE WATER GARDENS CAN BE MADE 1 7 



a pond or along a stream. In spring the 

 brown woolly fronds of cinnamon fern will 

 first show themselves, uncoiling as they rise. 

 The swamp rose-mallow (Hibiscus mos- 

 cheuios) will give a wealth of great white 

 or pink flowers in mid-summer. In autumn 

 blue mists of asters or a yellow glow of core- 

 opsis and dazzling shafts of cardinal flower 

 {Lobelia cardinalis) will brighten the spot. 



HANDLING CUT FLOWERS 



Water-lilies do well as cut flowers if they 

 are properly handled. The flower selected 

 for cutting must be newly opened or just 

 about to open. In nature the life of each 

 bloom is limited to three or four days, but 

 in the house it may keep a day or two longer. 

 Occasionally death seems to overtake the 

 motor centres while the flower is still open, 

 and then it remains several days before the 

 petals wither. The new flower may be recog- 

 nised by these features: (i) The stamens 

 spread apart at the centre of the flower. 



