78 Hardy Plants for Cottage Gardens 
like countless watersheds, and only when they fall do the walls 
ever get wet. There are two varieties of Virginia creeper, one 
with light green, rather thin leaves, that turn a bright scarlet 
in the autumn, the other has heavier glossy dark green leaves 
that turn a dark maroon at the edge before frost comes, and 
bright crimson later. The second variety is the stronger and 
more beautiful of the two. 
Adam devised an ingenious use of a dumpheap of rocks and 
débris, the accumulation of former generations, by having the 
stones piled as compactly as possible, and held in place by a 
retaining wall. When leveled, he earthed it over, and sowed 
it with grass seed, and the result is a broad terraced driveway 
across a swale. It is edged with oaks and maples that had 
found lodgment in the original heap, and having now at- 
tained enormous size, they complete one of the most pictur- 
esque features of our premises. 
There are three plants that have no value for flowers that 
give a delicious perfume to a garden; one, a low herb, whose 
trade name is Ambrosia Mexicana, also Southernwood or boy 
love, because it seldom bears any flower (Ariemesia Abro- 
tanum), and sweet fern (Artemesia annua), which grows four 
feet high with delicately cut fern-like leaves, small greenish 
inconspicuous flowers, and green stems that turn red in au- 
tumn. The odor of it is both sweet and aromatic. It is also 
said that Kochia scoparia is very attractive as it turns a beau- 
tiful red in autumn. I bought it under the name of Belvidere 
(Kochia trichophila) which makes the same claim, and either 
I got a wrong variety, or something was amiss, for-it was not 
beautiful at any season. 
I have used sumach extensively about the house for the sake 
of the beautiful foliage both in summer and autumn: it turns a 
flaming red under the first frost. The creamy green flowers 
are borne in great panicles, which turn late in September to a 
