210 
HERBACEOUS GARDEN 
form, and white Lawson, all free-blooming 
and sturdy. In addition to these, we shall 
have a bed of the old crimson clove (brought 
from the Isle of Wight). Year after year we 
have tried to grow this old favourite, and each 
time the blooms open with ugly splashes of 
white, however true the stock may have been. 
It is a mercy that “ hope springs eternal ” in 
the gardener’s breast. 
A word or two as to the clematis growing 
on the various poles in this garden, which, by 
the way, is quite apart from the gardens on to 
which the house opens. Several curious kinds 
which I could never get named flourished 
here, and had evidently been here for many 
years. One has unfortunately died after a 
very severe cutting back. It is a mistake to 
cut a very old clematis back to the ground, 
even if the stem be ugly and ragged. They 
rarely survive such drastic treatment, and I 
have lost two or three this way. 
One of these clematis had a most lovely 
fern-like leaf, finely cut, delicate and graceful, 
of vivid light green, and with slightly drooping 
bells of peach colour, a good deal larger than 
those of the old purple viticella. Another was 
also of peach colour, shaped like Jackmanii but 
much smaller, with a bar down the centre of 
