Garden Queries
A passing allusion to that small and lovely bush, the cerato- stigma has brought inquiries. The bush, which rather suggests a plumbago, is hardier than the comparison suggests ; indeed, it stood the frosts of the winter better than the evergreen ceanothus, even on harsh soils. Blueness of flower (which has given great popularity to ceanothus dentata) is rare in shrubs, and is perhaps the most popular of colours. One incidental charm of the ceratostigma is that its clear blue flowers are a famous lure for some butterflies and moths, especially the humming-bird hawk moth. The variety of which I write is not the dwarf leadwort, but wilmottiana. Even when cut to the ground (like the fuchsia in Eastern England) it will sprout again from the bottom. It has happened rather unexpectedly in my garden that in the prim- rose tribe the blue-flowered varieties, such as Juliana, were the first to flower freely after the snows melted.
W. BEACH THOMAS.
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