SOBER SUMMER 



137 



come, for the specific name of the best of the 

 varieties hardy in the middle states is Davidii 

 var. magnifica. Get it all: Buddleia Davidii var. 

 magnifica! What would have happened to the 

 hlac if it had had to be named after Adam Buddie, 

 an English botanist? It is mighty hard on a good 

 plant to have so much mixed-up alphabet hung 

 to it, and many such suffer under a blanket of 

 obscurity for no worse cause. 



But this buddlea — I am omitting an unneces- 

 sary vowel to try to make a name at least partly 

 common — is a very excellent shrub. To be sure, 

 zero weather will probably freeze it down to the 

 ground or to the protection on the ground, and 

 thus make sure of the pruning it needs; for its 

 vigorous roots will provide shoots that will in a 

 hurry make plenty of bush for beginning to bloom 

 in late July or early August, and once begun, it 

 seems to have no particular idea of stopping for a 

 matter of five or six weeks. These blooms are in 

 long panicles of rosy purple, enough hke a helio- 

 trope to mark the resemblance, and they stand 

 thickly upon the plant, which under generous 

 treatment tends to become rather coarse. The 

 butterfly designation is not inapt, because the 

 butterflies seem exceedingly fond of the shrub, 

 and are about it constantly. 



