SOME OF THE SUMMER FLOWERS OF MY GARDEN. 317 



them. It certainly seems to be one of the strongest, but it 

 takes several years before it makes up its mind to blossom, and 

 a good deal of waiting is called for on this account. It has quite 

 lately flowered with me, and I have been very much pleased with 

 it. Max Leichtlin has a form which he calls Eremurus robustus 

 nobilis, or something of that sort, and I am told that it is 

 greatly superior to the plant which we are accustomed to meet 

 with. But when I use the w T ord " accustomed," I think it must 

 be done with some mental reservation. What surprises me most 

 of all is that these very splendid acquisitions of Central Asia, 

 Siberia, and the Caucasus are so very little grown. I cannot 

 imagine anything that would set -off the grounds of some lordly 

 mansion or humble vicarage garden more than these Eremuri 

 would do it. But for the most part they are conspicuous by 

 their absence, and one well-known garden near Cambridge is the 

 principal exception I can think of to the above remarks. What 

 then are the causes why this comparative failure obtains ? I do 

 not profess to know ; but the following considerations occur to 

 my mind. They are supposed to be much more difficult to 

 manage than is really the case, and this bars them at the outset, 

 Next, if they are occasionally tried, they are sometimes planted 

 in the midst of other things, and they do not succeed well in 

 that way ; thirdly, they come up too soon in the year, and the 

 flowering spike is at once very seriously injured. I have suffered 

 from the latter inconvenience very often indeed. But, as a rule, 

 I find that an Eremurus will stand many degrees of frost before 

 it is injured ; and I am told that if the plant is taken out of the 

 ground as soon as it has flowered, and kept dry for a few weeks, 

 its growth will be sufficiently retarded to free it from the danger 

 I have named. I have not yet tried this plan, but I am intending 

 to try it as soon as I can. I am sure that the Eremuri like 

 a well-worked rather rich soil, and the roots should be able 

 to spread out in their starfish manner as much as they like. 

 Whenever I have gone against this and have planted an Eremurus 

 carelessly among shrubs, or anywhere else, I have found that it 

 very soon resents the inattention, and we are likely to part 

 company altogether. The best thing I can suggest for them 

 is that they should have sufficient space allotted to them by 

 themselves in a well-prepared border, and if the above pre- 

 cautions are followed I think they will do well. 



D 



