Pot-pourri from a Surrey garden

Lilies of the Valley do very well in London if planted under a wall ; facing east is the best position, and they should be left alone. Most of the hardy Lilies would thrive if planted in October, especially the scarlet Lily, Lilium chal- cedonicum, which flowers early. One reason why London gardens do so badly very often is that they are neglected in September and October. Wallflowers are best planted in September; and I am afraid many beginners fail to realise what are annuals and what are not, and the greater the difficulties the greater the care necessary. I saw once in a review of an American book on gardening that the late springs and the early heat in parts of America made the growing of many of the larger annuals a great difficulty, as they could not be sown out of doors early enough. The reviewer quoted the author of the book's statement of how she ingeniously devised the follow- ing method : — Determined not to be beaten, she grew the single seeds in empty egg-shells stuck into boxes of sand ; when the time came for planting, and the little seed had grown, the shell was just broken and the whole thing dropped into the ground where it was to grow. In this way she got Poppies, &c., to flourish — plants that will not bear moving at all, as a general rule. I mention this as an example of the whole spirit of gardening, a patient conquering of difficulties. Biding on the crest of the wave that tries to submerge us is one of the phases of our existence that makes life most satisfactory and worth living, and it is the secret of all progress. If gardening were easy, even under favourable circumstances, we should none of us care to do it. It must strike everyone when driving through the streets of London in the summer how elaborately ugly is the planting of many of the window-boxes. What seems to me to look best is to keep the flowers as distinct and as unmixed as possible. To set out plants that are not really OCTOBER 201 hardy before the end of May is waste of money, and gives me a feeling of unloving ignorance of plants which is as the murdering of the innocents to those who are fond of them. A pretty mixture is the yellow French Marguerite with two or three — according to the size of the box — little upright Cryptomeria japonicas, either in the middle or at each end of the box, according to the shape of the window. White French Daisies do just as well, if preferred. Calceolarias and white Daisies are also pretty. I have lived so little in London in the summer of late years that I am more prepared to criticise than to suggest. One day I saw outside a dining-room window some large, heavy, oblong Japanese flower-pots planted with single plants, and they looked very well, as one was able to see the growth of the plants. These Japanese pots are glazed, and much thicker than the ordinary flower-pot, and thus lessen evaporation and the risk of being blown over. No plants can possibly succeed on balconies or windows in ordinary English flower-pots unless they are sunk in boxes or other pots as a protection from the sun and wind. 202 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN NOVEMBER Letting in the autumn sun — Jerusalem Artichokes — Hardy Bamboos — Polygonum cuspidatum — Autumn flowers — Small Beech-trees — Last day in the country — Some gardening books of this century.