OUR PHLOXES AND HELIOTROPE 177 
Timothy. To us the sky still looks very blue, while 
the sun is bright and intense. 
The spruces and evergreens are feeling this heat. 
They have now a dark, rusty look, while the en- 
chanting spring growth, which so enlivened them, 
has turned the same colour as the rest of the trees. 
It is only by looking sharply that we can tell how 
much each spray has grown this year. However, 
we think little of evergreens in mid-summer. Only 
when winter comes, and they are still green, do we 
turn to them in gratitude. 
The cosmos that Joseph sowed in the seed-bed 
the very last of April, and transplanted later to the 
long bed in front of the wall, is now blooming quite 
lustily. The colours of the flowers are pink or 
white. In staking these plants Joseph exercised 
his ingenuity, hiding the supports so' skilfully 
among the stalks of feathery foliage that they are 
seen but little. 
It is amazing to me that these plants should have 
grown so high in such a short time. Many of them 
are taller than I. If we are to keep them with us 
until frost we must prevent them from making 
seeds. I like these cosmos flowers. They have 
a clean, cheerful look, something like the daisies 
that bloom in the field. ^ 
I once thought that flowers had nothing to attend 
to in life, but I now find that they have a great deal 
with which to concern themselves. First of all, 
they have to adapt themselves to the soil where 
