Abby <1>–
Tuesday 13 Sepr
My dear Henry
I see by the papers that Caroline <2> is arrived, I do not know where to find any of the family but you, & therefore beg you to let me know how you hear she is & Charley <3> more particularly. Is Ld Mt E <4> coming soon? & is he better than he was last year?
Ly I. <5> has been but poorly these few last days, & not able to get out – I trust however it will pass over.
Our autumnal spring is commencing – we have laburnum anemones, Delphiniums, & many spring flowers recommencing – & a blaze of Colchicums, Oporanthus luteus in the greatest profusion, Hibiscus Syriacus, of which we have many of different shades, a magnificent Bignonia grandiflora & Passionflower, Pancratium maritim[um] Scilla autumnalis; a second blow of nearly all the Mesembs, – oleander, honeysuckles, Clematis montana, & cistus – & one most lovely bunch of Crocus speciosus which I never before saw in such perfection – Aconitum japonicum, Phytolacca [Xandia?] <6> & a new Yucca on the point of flowering Oxalis cernua in abundance – & Antirrhinum Siculum.
I have had Dianthus sylvestris in flower for the first time – Dianella lævis, with beautiful blue berries –
You should have Houttuynia cordifolia – it is a pretty & a lasting flower, & requires only a bog to grow in I will send you a root if I can – Tradescantia crassifolia has been flowering very well – out of doors.
Where is Caroline going to be for the present?
Yr afft
W F S
Notes:
1. Abbotsbury, Dorset: home of William Thomas Horner Fox Strangways.
2. Caroline Augusta Edgcumbe, née Feilding, Lady Mt Edgcumbe (1808–1881); WHFT’s half-sister.
3. Charles Earnest Edgcumbe (1838–1915), JP, WHFT’s nephew.
4. Ernest Augustus Edgcumbe, Lord Valletort, 3rd Earl of Mt Edgcumbe (1797–1861), WHFT’s brother-in-law.
5. Juliana Maria Strangways, née Digby (d. 1842); she died on 23 September 1842.
6. There is no published species in this genus with an epithet beginning ‘x’ and yet the ‘x’ is quite clear.