OUR PHLOXES AND HELIOTROPE 173 
which now are blooming in several places about 
the triangle, have done more to cheer up the Six 
Spruces than any others we have had. When Jo- 
seph planted them, I had no idea how beautiful 
their colours would look in bold masses. Besides, 
the clusters of flowers are large and very brilliant. 
Mr. Percy is likewise enchanted with our phloxes. 
He tells us that we can keep them in flower until 
nearly the time of frost, by clipping off their heads 
after they have passed their first bloom. At pres- 
ent, it makes me shudder to think of clipping them. 
Although these phloxes grow very tall, they do 
not require to be held up by stakes. This is an- 
other of their good points. So far, I have never 
seen mere stalks that were things of beauty in a 
garden. Those of the phloxes have a way of 
standing up erect by themselves, and, although I 
still think them plain and prim, all is overlooked 
now that they are so gloriously crowned with blos- 
soms. 
While I wonder why more girls and boys in this 
country do not have gardens, as is general with the 
children in England, it would cause me greater 
astonishment to hear of a child’s garden without 
phloxes. We have found them very simple to 
grow, and from now on they will increase, so that 
at the end of three seasons, when we shall have to 
divide their roots, we shall likely have three times 
as many to set out as are now in the garden. Then 
Mr. Hayden would at least be right in saying that. 
