A YEAR IN A GARDEN ON N.-W. COAST OF ROSS-SHIRE. 85 
July. 
As the rose is called the queen of flowers, I think I will start this 
month with a description of the newer Chinese wild Roses. Some of 
them have given us such pleasure this summer. Rosa Moyesii is 
something quite out of the common, and its foliage and fruit are about 
as striking as its lovely blooms, and so are R. Wilmottiana, R. Hugonis, 
&c, and anyone keen on flowers should get them without further 
delay. 
Perhaps my most striking July shrubs are Abutilon vitijolium, 
Solanum crispum, and Olearia macrodonta. I need not enlarge 
upon the very great merits of Abutilon vitijolium as a most 
beautiful flowering small tree. Solanum crispum will also grow 
into what might almost be called a tree. There is a variety of 
it called autumnale, which I got from Glasnevin Botanic Gardens, 
which is later, and perhaps a better thing, than the early summer 
flowering one ; and its masses of lavender blooms (though rather re- 
minding one of potato blossom) are, I think, most telling and attractive. 
It is such an easy thing to grow anywhere, and its flowering season 
lasts such a long time, which is a great merit in a flowering shrub. 
The third most striking July tree (if I may so call it) is certainly 
Olearia macrodonta. I have three, which are already 15 feet high, 
and wide in proportion. To convince my readers how they show up 
when in bloom, I may mention that one of mine is now a most striking 
object from the opposite side of Loch Ewe, at a distance of about 
one and a half mile. Like my big Crinodendron, my Olearias are 
the largest specimens I have ever met with anywhere, and I know 
of no other flowering tree of such snowy whiteness, except perhaps 
the Exochordas, which I forgot to mention in my June notes, and 
for the benefit of my readers I should perhaps explain that I had 
never been able to bloom the beautiful pearl bushes till I got a tip 
from a friend to try a variety called Exochorda macrantha, which was 
a real success this year, though only planted two years ago. 
To show how happy the New Zealand holly {Olearia macrodonta) 
is here, I should perhaps also mention that it has never failed to 
bloom most profusely every year, and that plenty of its self-sown 
seedlings come up all over the place. 
In close proximity to my Olearias I have just now three other 
very striking shrubs in full bloom, viz. : Rhododendron Keysii 
from Bhotan, Buddleia Colvillei from Sikkim, and Azalea calendulacea 
from America. No one seeing Rhododendron Keysii for the first 
time' (unless very well up in shrubs) would ever imagine it could 
possibly be a Rhododendron, its blooms being more like that scarlet 
and yellow greenhouse plant, the Correa. The Buddleia blooms 
are also quite different from, and very superior to, the ordinary class 
of Buddleias, being more like inverted foxgloves ; it is perfectly hardy 
here, but I am not sure if it would stand a bad winter in inland or 
East Coast places in Scotland. 
