MY HERBACEOUS GARDEN 21 1 
each petal of rather a rough purple-blue. 
One of this variety still lives, but I have 
never seen anything that resembles it at any 
of the shows or nurseries. 
Another very old plant in this garden was 
a pink rose very full and very fragrant, flower- 
ing in September as freely as it does in June, 
and looking from the size of the stem as if it 
lived here for centuries. And it very likely 
had, for it is the counterpart of the one men- 
tioned in another chapter as having been 
painted by Van Verendael in 1628. 
Owing to an alteration which necessitated 
pulling down the wall behind it, we had to 
do away with the old plant, but were fortunate 
enough to get some plants from cuttings. 
The flowers are very large, one bloom was 
measured and found to be 4 inches across. 
Among the bulbs that take care of them- 
selves in this garden are the colchicums, which 
no amount of digging ever seems to disturb, 
and which throw up their great chalice-shaped 
cups of rosy mauve when most needed, namely, 
in October. 
The great tulip family will not establish 
themselves permanently, with the exception 
of the rose-coloured Gesner tulip, an old 
favourite, which flowers yearly in masses, and 
