A YEAR IN A GARDEN ON N.-W. COAST OF ROSS-SHIRE. 87 
Crinodendrons and Embothriums. Their one fault is that they 
last so short a time in bloom. A most choice and charming flowering 
tree is the New Zealand Plagianthus Lyalli, and it is a splendid doer 
here, and when in bloom in August reminds one of the cherry blossom 
in May, only its growth and foliage are more artistic than that of the 
cherry ; it is a real treasure for the arboretum. But for brilliant 
colour in August commend me to the Desfontaineas, and when one 
has a Desfontainea bush, as I have here, all scarlet and orange, under 
a Plagianthus in full flower, the combination is perfection. Des- 
fontaineas grow only too well here, and, as with my Japanese maples, 
I have to use the saw and the knife to them to keep them within 
bounds. 
Among the many things I wonder at, one is that people never 
seem to have arrived at the fact that the Agapanthus is just an extra 
good hardy perennial on this West Coast ; and what a show they make 
in the gardens, as well as out in the shrubberies here, with their heads 
of blue, and some of them white also ! I see my clumps are sending 
up as many as twelve and thirteen flowering stalks, and they have 
one great merit, that no amount of wind and rain affects them adversely, 
and they stand all the frost we get, right out in the open, without 
any kind of protection. 
The brilliant Antholizas, the lovely white Watsonias, and the 
tall Dierama pulcherrimum are equally grand South African plants 
that love our climate ; and what a sight the latter (which are often 
called wand-flowers) were last year, waving their graceful heads 
about at Monreith in Galloway and Arduaine in Argyll, and they 
look so well here and elsewhere overhanging a pond or burn ! 
I ought to have mentioned in my July notes the Leptospermums. 
They are about the latest things out in flowering shrubs, and are 
really very fascinating. Some new plants which I got this year 
flowered profusely, and- we all lost our hearts to them, as they are 
quite different from anything, else I know. I fancy they are just 
sports from the common manuka (Leptospermum scoparium), which, 
I am told, is as plentiful in New Zealand as heather is in Scotland. 
The following three varieties are the new brilliantly coloured ones — 
viz. Boscawenii, Chapmanii, and Nichollii. L. lanigerum is also a 
fine shrub, and does first-rate here. 
September. 
There can be no doubt that the Eucryphia is the very best flowering 
shrub in September. I have only just started Eucryphia cordifolia, 
and so cannot say anything about it, but Eucryphia pinnatifolia I 
have grown for years, and my examples of it are already quite among 
my show shrubs, and look as if they could very soon be described 
as trees. I do not know any shrub that I can more highly recom- 
mend to everyone as being so thoroughly hardy and such a good 
doer, and never sick or sorry whatever the seasons may be like. They 
