22 GARDENS OF ENGLAND 



and the time has come to cut the sheaf of spikes 

 which will fill the house for many a day with the 

 incense of their fuller perfume ; or again, later on, 

 when the quiet grey of the persistent leaves suits 

 the mood of the sombre winter's day. Memory 

 recalls such a lavender-walk, backed by a hedge 

 of old-fashioned pink China roses, a mingling which 

 is very hard to beat in its delicate harmony. ~There 

 are few months in the year, save in dead of winter, 

 when roses are not to be gathered there, but 

 it is in late autumn, when flowers are few, that a 

 plantation of the kind is most precious. 



It is well to remember that lavender does not 

 last for ever in perfection. It must be cared for, or 

 it wUl lose all too soon the soft swell of its kindly 

 outline and grow twisted and gnarled, unsightly for 

 lack of timely clipping. For this work there are 

 two seasons — in the autumn, if a harvest of flower- 

 spikes is looked for in August, but if merely the 

 grey tone of leafage is wanted, the bushes must be 

 cut back in spring before the young growth has 

 had time to start. 



Rosemary 



was earlier known — or perhaps it is more just to 

 speak of it as having been earlier esteemed — than 



