Always a Flower in the Garden 
IX the c(5ld grey days of winter the eye asks for cheer- 
hig color ; green is the easiest color to produce then. 
In a large garden ninch may be done by planting 
evergreen shrubs and those with variegated foliage, but in 
a little plot one jiiust rely on the blue grey of a bordering 
of old-fashioned Pinks, on the duller grey of Rosemary 
hedges, whose stems become a vivid green after autumn 
rains, and on the pale shading of Lavender and Santolina. 
These with the bright green of Wallflowers and the 
deeper hue of Sweet Williams refresh a mind weary with 
Winter's cold and form a charming background for the 
scanty and delicate hues of Winter flowers. 
Foremost among these I place the Winter Heath. Erica 
carnea is the species I have grown, but there are varieties 
as good or better. It lives in a bed edged with Box and 
carpeted with rock plants, and shows its pink blooms 
against the green of Aubrietia foliage and the grey of 
Cotton Lavender (Santolina). In the first season of its 
blooming it was a rich crimson, but succeeding years 
have only brought blossoms of the color of Ling. It 
blooms from November till February. I would like to 
grow Winter Aconite among the Aubrietia, but it re- 
fuses to live in this garden, otherwise January should see 
its cheerful little yellow flowers. 
Winter Coltsfoot ( Tussilago fragrans), sometimes 
called Winter Heliotrope, is a delicate and fragrant 
thing, pale pinkish mauve in color and delicious in scent, 
but rather inclined to want a lot of room for its abundant 
leaves. Iris stylosa grows in a wall garden with success 
and is a thing of beauty. 
Christmas Roses (Helleborus niger) will flower in 
the open, but to retain their exquisite purity they need 
some protection and shelter. Winter Sweet or Japanese 
Alls])ice ( Chimonanthus fragrans) will put forth flowers 
on a warm wall. So much for January. 
February, often "fair and fine" with "worst of Winter 
coming behin'." On the walls is the welcome scarlet of 
Japonica ; through the orchard grass peer "February's 
fair maids," the Snowdrops ; in stone vases on the terrace 
walls flame yellow Crocus : purple and white will follow 
later in the garden beds. There are also several delight- 
ful blue flowers, Chionodoxa Luciliae (Glory of the 
Snow), being the most brilliant; Scilla sibirica is very 
deep and rich in hue. Later come Grape and Feather 
Hyacinths (Muscari botryoides and M. plumosum). Nor 
must be forgotten that demurely charming shrub. 
Daphne Mezereum, its thin brow'u boughs clustered thick 
with blossoms of deep pink or pale mauve, to be ex- 
changed in autumn for yellow berries almost hidden by 
neat green leaves. 
After February, blustering March ; cold winds and 
strong sun shepherding the advance guard of the noble 
array of spring flowers which this month shares with 
April. 
Dafifodil, Violet and Primrose are three lovelv sisters 
of the spring, beautiful alike in field or garden, and each 
variety seeming in its special way loveliest of all. Sturdy 
Pirompton Stocks and fragrant Wallflowers fill the gar- 
den beds. To my mind a long stretch of Wallflowers in 
full bloom radiates light and heat, and bees think as 
I do, crowding to enjoy it. These plants begin in March 
and attain fulfilment in April ; the rock plants begin in 
April and are in full beauty in ]\tay. I speak now of 
flat beds edged with Box and filled in with Rock Cress 
(Aubrietia) of many hues, white Arabis and yellow 
Alvssum, also Saxifrages, pink and white. 
In May come Tulip, Iris, Crown Imperial : herbaceous 
Lupines send up spikes of blue : the Pasony leaves turn 
green from crimson brown ; the Kerria flaunts its golden 
buttons against the walls ; yellow Jessamine sheds a 
lovely scent ; Banksia Roses, yellow and white, peep 
modestly from the shelter of pale foliage. Sweetest of 
all is the breath of the Lily of the Valley. 
The flowers of May are many, but the flowers of 
June are more. Red of Roses, pink of Psonies, blue, 
pink and mauve of Canterbury Bells, crimson of Sweet 
Williams, blue of Delphiniums ; a riot of color in the 
beds, and on the paths the rich gold of self-sown Saxi- 
frage. 
So to the calmer moments of July when Summer is 
getting just a wee bit staid. Chimney Campanulas and 
Bellflowers give their more sober blue in place of vivid 
Delphiniinns, Balsams bloom, and French Marigolds and 
the scarlet Lychnis. Clumps of Carnations succeed the 
"river of white snow"' — the white Pinks that edged the 
long borders. "This is the month when Lilies do blow," 
pure ^Madonna, fiery Tiger Lily, scarlet Martagon, grace- 
ful lancifoliuni and all the rest of them. 
August is like the little pause which comes at the crest 
of high tide, the level quarter of an hour before the 
ebb sets out. This is the month when those who have 
spent hours of care tending and transplanting annuals 
reap the harvest of their labors. Snapdragons are now 
abloom and stately Hollyhocks, and the more artificial 
beauties of Geranium and Begonia. 
September ushers in the autumn flowers, which it 
shares with October. Anemones, Sunflowers, Red-hot 
Pokers, Michaelmas Daisies or Starworts, and Phlox in 
many colors, all these and many another beauty blend in 
shades of yellow and orange and mauve and white, 
harmonising with scarlet-tinted creepers on the walls and 
golden leaves on fading trees. Heliotrope greets you 
sweetly and modestly and seems as if bent on blooming 
forever, till there comes the sad morning when, after a 
shar]i frost overnight, you go to enjoy Heliotrope and 
find a mass of black, shrivelled stems. 
This may not be till November should the season be 
mild, but for the rest of the year the garden only con- 
tains the crumbs that fell from the table of Summer's 
feast. Chrysanthemums may possibly linger, but the chief 
beauty now to be found is in berries. The best of these 
are provided by the Rock Sprays (Cotoneaster macro- 
phylla and C. liorizontalis), whose wee white blossoms 
shone in the spring ; Ceanothus, which gave branches of 
lovely blue flowers in July: Summer .Allspice (Calvcan- 
ihus), whose dull crimson blooms showed in August; 
and several varieties of Barberry and of Thorn ( Cra- 
taegus Pyracantha, etc.). There are some good autumn- 
blooming Veronicas. Myrtles bear dull black fruits where 
once were starry white flowers, and in the borders Red 
Giant Mignonette and the dainty flowers and seed vessels 
of Love-in-a-Mist, or Nigella defy frost and blossom 
crisply. 
So the year creeps on to Christmastide. Yellow Jes- 
samine (Jasminum nudiflorum) and Winter Heath be- 
gin to bloom to link the old year with the new, and 
many a plant that made us gay in Spring brings a second 
offering to make us glad in Winter. The Rock Cress 
shows little sprays of mauve and pink, perennial Wall- 
flowers give a gay patch of yellow in a corner of an old 
grey wall, a Pansy peeps out shyly, Love-in-a-Mist creeps 
softly round red-berried Rosa rugosa, autumn Molets 
smell even sweeter than in Spring'. 
T\Ianv a flower ot >ummer Iitts a reproachful face that 
I should have left its name unmentioned in the calendar 
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