MIDSUMMER 



75 



polished leaves, but its time of beauty is from late 

 autumn till mid-winter, when the large pods show the 

 brilliant scarlet seeds. But as the heavy heads bend 

 down and get splashed with earth, I cut them as soon 

 as they burst open, for indoor winter decoration, first 

 hanging them up stalk upwards in bunches, for the 

 stems to dry and stiffen. The flowers, which are out 

 in June, are small, and though curiously veined and 

 coloured, and interesting to examine in the hand, are 

 of no garden value. 



One of the happiest mixtures of plants it has ever 

 been my good fortune to hit on is that of St. Bruno's 

 Lily and London Pride, both at their best about the 

 second week of June. The lovely little Mountain Lily 

 — fit emblem of a pure-souled saint — stands upright 

 with a royal grace of dignity, and bears with an air of 

 modest pride its lovely milk-white bloom and abundant 

 sheaves of narrow blue-green leaves. It is not a real 

 Lily but an Aiithericum ; no plant, however, better 

 deserves the Lily-name, that, when used in its broader 

 significance, denotes some plant that bears bloom of 

 Lily shape, and bears them so worthily that the name 

 is in no danger of dishonour. 



The well-grown clumps of this beautiful plant (it 

 is the large kind and nearly two feet high) are on a 

 narrow westward-facing bank that slopes down to the 

 lawn. The place would be in the full blaze of the late 

 afternoon sun, but that it is kept shaded and cool by a 

 large Spanish Chestnut whose bole is some ten yards 



