SOME OF THE SUMMER FLOWERS OF MY GARDEN. 315 



SOME OF THE SUMMER FLOWERS OF MY GARDEN. 



By the Rev. H. Ewbank, M.A., F.R.H.S. 



There is no flower during the whole circle of the year which 

 awakens sadder reflections in my mind than does Anemone 

 rivularis, and the reason is this : It for the most part says to 

 me that the spring flowers have all passed away, and that a 

 new succession has come. 



Narcissus patellar is gave a warning note, but Anemone 

 rivularis is like a funeral knell. I cannot say that I care for 

 summer flowers so much as those of spring. Extreme delicacy 

 both of colour and form are characteristic of the latter, and 

 with some exceptions, such, for instance, as that of Omphalodes 

 Lucilice, we look in vain for them in the others. 



But what we do find in summer flowers, I think, is vivid 

 colouring, stateliness of form, and a general lusciousness which 

 would have been altogether out of place if it had come earlier in 

 the year. In great measure insect fertilisation has play, and 

 insects affect blossoms of some very gaudy hue or some marked 

 design, or those from which a strong fragrance is emitted. Nor 

 is this general brightness inharmonious to ourselves. The 

 summer-time is that of restful quiet enjoyment, rather than 

 that of tender new-born hope, and we should, I think, say 

 that a more pronounced colouring is acceptable to us in 

 June than would have been the case in February or March. 

 A gardener has nothing to do when the year has come to its 

 zenith beyond keeping things as they are. He has no need 

 to look forward, he has no preparations to think about, and a 

 carpe diem sort of feeling best expresses the mood in which 

 he finds himself living. And his flowers answer to this. They 

 are productive of present enjoyment, rather than symbolical of 

 some future delights. In my own garden I never go in for 

 effects ; there is not room for it, even if I had any wish of 

 the sort, and all I think about is to try to make individual 

 plants do well in my hands as best I can. In fact I am 

 quite contented with these, and at Midsummer I am glad if 

 I have a sufficient number of striking beauty and worth to 

 show to my friends. I shall confine myself (as I am told to 

 do) in the following remarks to hardy summer perennials, and 



