  It is the deciduous trees and shrubs which announce the arrival of autumn. Green leaves take on a colouring of yellow, brown, or red more pronounced than the yellows and reds of spring. As the wind blows, a few of the ripest leaves fall, and one becomes conscious of a feeling of evening, of the end of a play, or of the end of a beautiful poem. If it were but by these autumnal colourings, and by the feelings which the fall of the leaf produces, one would be well repaid for the planting and cultivating of trees and shrubs. Because the active life of these larger plants is over for a season, however, one need not imagine that the well managed garden is suddenly to become flowerless. Roses and Pentstemons, Potentillas and Phloxes, Sweet-Peas and Nasturtiums, and a host of other summer bloomers still remain and often continue to bear flowers till hard frost pulls down the curtain. But it is not on summer flowers that we need rely, for there are numerous beautiful hardy flowers peculiar to autumn itself. Dahlias, Rudbeckias, Sunflowers, Tritomas, Michaelmas Daisies, Japanese Anemones, Fuchsias and Chrysanthemums are those which immediately rise in the memory. The common Torch Lily, or Red-hot-Poker, is almost the hardiest of the Tritomas—or Kniphofias, as they are now called—and in a moderately light soil will live year after year with little or no attention. Often, in neglected cottage gardens at about the end of August, a group of these Flame flowers, burning red and glowing yellow, The dark crimson Kniphofia Burchelli is valuable on account of its long blooming period, as also is the orange and scarlet K. Saundersii, but all the kinds are good, though not all are distinct. Considering that it was introduced from the Cape nearly two hundred years ago, it is somewhat curious that the Kniphofia is still comparatively a rare flower. Although it was mentioned by Hernandez in his History of Mexico, as long ago as 1651, the Dahlia was not introduced into this country until 1789, when Lady Bute brought a plant from Madrid. It is scarcely hardy in heavy soil or in the northern half of England, and it will generally be necessary to lift the roots in late autumn, and, having ripened them in a shed, to store them for the winter in a cool dry place, where the temperature will not fall below freezing point. In the spring, the separate tubers may be planted in deep rich soil; or the roots may in February be placed in a hot bed, and as the young shoots which form are about three and a half inches long, they may be separated together with a small piece of the tuber, and potted in small pots which should be placed in the hot-bed until the young plants are ready to be planted out. The old double kinds are much inferior to the single and cactus varieties. Dahlias compass a very wide range of colour, and there are so many good sorts that each grower may well be left to select for himself. In choosing Cactus Dahlias, it is wise to select kinds in which the flowers stand out well beyond the foliage. WHITE WOOD LILIES The vigorous Sneezeweeds or Heleniums are among the easiest of all plants to grow, and will exist on almost any soil. Like other hardy plants, however, they pay for deep cultivation and manure. They bear yellow The Cone-flowers, or Rudbeckias, are also handsome American plants, the best being R. speciosus, which bears orange flowers with dark yellow centres, and is a very fine bloomer. But even more useful and important than Heleniums and Rudbeckias are the various perennial sunflowers, of which Helianthus multiflorus and H. rigidus, with their varieties, are perhaps the best worth cultivating. All these North American composites are such very vigorous growers that they should not be placed in close proximity to small or delicate plants, and it is advisable—except in quite wild places—to take them up every two years and divide the roots. The Michaelmas Daisies, or tall-growing Asters, are steadily growing in favour coincidently with the growth of the popular taste. Deep cultivation, moderately rich soil, and division every two or three years, are the conditions of their successful culture. Aster ericoides, A. amellus bessarabicus, A. acris, A. Shortii and A. vimineus are a few good kinds. Both the white and the rose-coloured varieties of Anemone Japonica should be grown, and are of the easiest culture. They may be rapidly increased by division, and should be allowed to develop into bold clumps. Megasea cordifolia and the Pampas Grass are among the autumnal bloomers, as also are the Crocus-like Colchicums, the even more delicately coloured autumn Crocuses, Sedum spectabile, Sternbergia lutea, the late-flowering Gladioli, and the beautiful Amaryllis Belladonna. Quite unlike all other autumn flowers—indeed unlike all other flowers—the Japanese Chrysanthemum gives us the latest display of brilliant colouring of the garden year. For border decoration, they may be treated much The autumn tints assumed by the leaves of many deciduous trees and shrubs are very interesting and beautiful. Of such, the following short list may be of a little help:—
In one of his most suggestive essays, John Burroughs pointed out that in autumn the battles of the spring are fought over again. But, whereas in the spring it is the summer warmth which eventually, in spite of many mishaps and reverses, wins the victory, in the autumnal ebb it is the cold which finally gains the day. This constant strife between succeeding seasons at the points of meeting lies at the root of the peculiar charm of the English climate and of the English flora. The following lists are borrowed from my Chronicle of a Cornish Garden:— A FEW GOOD TALLEST BORDER PLANTS.
A FEW GOOD TALL BORDER PLANTS.
A FEW GOOD DWARF BORDER-PLANTS.
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