CUT FLOWERS 



147 



autumn I find it useful to have a line or patch of 

 one of the maize-like Sorghums or Millets ; the one 

 I use is the Sorgho d halais of the French. If when 

 half grown the main stem is cut out, it branches 

 into a number of side shoots, good to group with 

 Gladiolus, or to weathe about with the white clusters 

 of the late-blooming Clematis flammula of September 

 and the still finer C. paniculata of October. 



And Avith late autumn what a wealth of beauti- 

 fully-coloured foliage there is to choose from, both in 

 the garden and in the wood ; of Vine and Virginia 

 Creeper and Scarlet Oak; of yellowing Beech and 

 ruddy Bramble and Guelder-Rose ; the single Guelder- 

 Rose grand with berry also. Bosa hicida, always one 

 of the best of Roses for clumps and bushes in any 

 shrubbery spaces, is brilliant in late autumn with 

 the red and yellow of its foliage and the abundant 

 clusters of its ripe scarlet fruit. 



Even in middle winter one can make green foliage 

 groups without flowers that are Avorthy room -orna- 

 ments, for there are always sprays of green Ivy to be 

 found and fronds of Hart's-tongue and Polypody Ferns, 

 and in woodland places where scrub Oak was cut down 

 last winter the yearling shoots bear their large green 

 leaves far into the next, giving us a handsome 

 type of deciduous leafage otherwise not to be had. 

 Sprays of Oak are of value also early in the year, for 

 some bear small strongly waved leaves of a golden 

 green in May and June, while for bowls of Tea-Roses 



