2 3 2 



FLORA AND SYLVA, 



best they may while the bedding-season 

 absorbs the workmen. Where succulents 

 are grown surely it would be more in 

 keeping to pile together a few rough 

 blocks of stone, around which to group 

 them with at least a semblance of natural 

 effect, rather than to plant each Agave 

 on its own little mound, exactly like its 

 neighbour at a measured distance, and 

 studded round with hosts of fleshy satel- 

 lites in a manner wholly irrational. Still 

 in Regent's Park there is much that 

 pleases, e.g. y the wild Brake growing 

 freely with the shrubs and suggestive 

 of the open country with a breath of 

 Furze-clad common or shady wood- 

 land. The shrubberies are fretted into 

 little bay s and nooks and straits,by which 

 the green turf gains access everywhere 

 without the fettering border-line. Best 

 of all, the little pool edged with tall 

 yellow Flags, grey Willow, Buckthorn, 

 and towering Rhubarbs upon the farther 

 side; Gunneras, with Arrowheads and 

 Water Iris, Marsh Marigolds and Lilies 

 in nearer view. 



The only open words of praise that 

 reached me in a long day's ramble were 

 overheard in Regent's Park, where the 

 nestling Violas, thick with flowers of 

 varied colour, though massed in groups 

 yet flow together without a harsh line; 

 and beside the water, where clustered 

 Lilies and the margin of Forget-me-nots 

 called forth a burst of enthusiasm from 

 a knot of work-girls. For the rest, 

 "come again in about a month" is the 

 sum of Midsummer Day's promise, and 

 thatafter nine months of waiting — from 

 October to the end of June. B. 



SOME OF THE NEWER TEA 

 ROSES, WITH A PLATE OF COM- 

 TESSE VITALI * 

 The late Sir Richard Owen used to speak 

 of Lilac time, and Laburnum time, and 

 others according to the flowers of the 

 day; but of all the flower times there is 

 nothing that appeals to the Rose-lover 

 so much as the opening of the new and 

 old Tea and Monthly Roses in June. 

 They are so varied and so refined in 

 colour that no other Roses come at all 

 near them, and the old red Roses, how- 

 ever brilliant and deep in colour, are but 

 asaChristmas show in comparison. The 

 novelties are numerous enough, and 

 even the failures in form are beautiful 

 in colour. To people devoted to these 

 Roses, however, there is enough of wor- 

 thy novelty to make them interesting, 

 and among those I have myself tried this 

 year and last are some of supreme beauty, 

 of which the following are the most 

 striking for the moment. It is not my 

 aim to describe minutely, for the de- 

 scriptions are given in most catalogues; 

 moreover, the form and colour of any of 

 these Roses will vary, owing to weather, 

 age, season, and other things of which 

 it is impossible to take account. For 

 instance, the beautiful Comtesse Vitali^ 

 which we figure in this number, on the 

 day we write this is quite different in 

 appearance from what it was when drawn 

 by Mr. Moon. It is a lovely Rose in many 

 ways, hardy, free and beautiful in foliage 

 and in all ways. I am comparing these 

 Roses with the queens of their race, such 

 as Marie V an Houtte ViVv&Anna Olivier^ 

 grown freely in the open air, which is 



Drawing by H. G. Moon at Gravetye Manor. 



