THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESENTED BY PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID GARDEN COLOUR All rights reserved MICHAELMAS DAISY. TRITOMA. CLEMATIS. NA CAV.YC; rox, CAXTERBVR v. GARDEN COLOUR SPRING SUMMER Mrs C. W. EARLE E. V. B. by JLJ. v . ju. *• %> *f AUTUMN £? ROSE KINGSLEY WINTER fyOeHon VICARY GIBBS Etc. Etc. MARGARET WATERFIELD NEW YORK: E. P. BUTTON fcf COMPANY - 5/2^ rf H/32- " A Horn / Whoever you are, come travel with me ! Travelling 'with me you find ivhat never tires. The earth never tires, The earth is rude, silent, incomprehensible at first, Nature is rude and incomprehensible at first, Be not discouraged, keep on, there are divine things •well enveloped, I swear to you there are divine things more beautiful than words can tell" — Walt Whitman. PREFACE THE wealth of garden books given us during the last years might make it seem unnecessary to add to their number. But it is hoped that these writings on Garden Colour may prove useful to the inexperienced, or to those who, newly in possession of a garden, suddenly awake to its possible delights, and desire to attain the ideal so well expressed by Lord Bacon that, " in the Royal ordering of gardens, there ought to be gardens for all months of the year in which severally things of beauty may be in season." Another early writer, who speaks of " painting a field with beautiful objects like colours upon a canvas," well describes the further object of this book, which is to illustrate the value of artistic massing of colour and skilful grouping of one variety of plant, and to suggest an ideal for the garden lover of to-day — pictures in flowers changing from day to day and month to month. Various modern garden writers have, with much knowledge and skill, already laid stress on the importance of colour-effect in our gardens — suggestions which many have been able to adopt ; but there are those to whom these word pictures convey but little help owing to their limited knowledge of flowers and the effect produced by them. To them this book is offered with the hope that the addition of sketches in colour to the writings of the well-known authorities who have kindly helped vii me may be of real practical assistance. The pictures give examples of successful results already obtained by more experi- enced gardeners, and should be suggestive of countless others. Fortunately this grouping for colour-effect is irrespective of the size of the garden ; most of the illustrations have been painted from our own or other small gardens, giving effects which are within the reach of many. Cottage gardens show us what admirable results can be achieved on a small plot of ground with simple flowers — results which grander gardens often fail to attain : the latter often suffer in general effect from a too great variety of plants, and a too widespread diffusion, or from an attempt to grow interesting plants not suited to the soil. Want of opportunity for procuring a great variety of plants, or a slender purse, obliges the cottage gardener, unintentionally perhaps, to produce his effect by one flower at a time. This special charm of the cottage garden is finely expressed by Lord Tennyson : — " One look'd all rose tree, and another wore A close-set robe of jasmine sown with stars : This had a rosy sea of gillyflowers About it ; this a milky way on earth, Like visions in the Northern dreamer's heavens, A lily avenue climbing to the doors ; One, almost to the martin-haunted eaves, A summer burial deep in hollyhocks ; Each its own charm." viii Perhaps the truth that simplicity gives strength of effect, and that selection and concentration are the two essential principles if the garden is to be rich in flower pictures all the year round, could hardly be better illustrated. It only remains for me to express my gratitude to the writers who have kindly contributed valuable articles to my book, also to those who have so courteously allowed me to paint in their gardens, and to Mr Robinson, whose books first fired me with enthusiasm for this form of gardening. MARGARET H. WATERFIELD. NACKINGTON, CANTERBURY. IX CONTENTS PAGE SPRING. By Maria Theresa Earle , . . i FEBRUARY. By Margaret Waterfield . .* . 18 MARCH. „ „ ... 22 APRIL. „ „ ... 29 MAY. „ „ • 44 SUMMER. By E. V. B. . . . . 57 JUNE. By Margaret Waterfield . . . 72 PEONIES. By W. Richmond Powell . . . 83 CLIMBING ROSES. By Helen Crofton . . , 88 JULY. By Margaret Waterfield ... 93 CULTURE OF ROSES. By George Mount . . 102 AUGUST. By Margaret Waterfield . . . 117 AUTUMN. By Rose G. Kings ley . . . . 127 SEPTEMBER. By Margaret Waterfield . . .142 OCTOBER. „ „ . • • 15 * WINTER. By the Hon. Vicary Gibbs . . . 161 XI ILLUSTRATIONS Michaelmas Daisy. Tritoma. Clematis « Nackington, Canterbury Crown Imperials . Snowdrops Cyclamen Coum Iris Reticulata and Crocus Anemone Blanda. Daffodil Cernuus Daffodils and Forget-me-nots Pyrus Japonica Woodlands, Cobham Bourne Park, Canterbury Nackington, Canterbury Nackington, Canterbury Nackington, Canterbury Nackington, Canterbury Nackington, Canterbury Pyrus Japonica. Rose Shoots The Holt, Harrow, Weald Magnolia Conspicua. Jonquil Garden House, Salt-wood, Kent Daffodils Cytisus. Solanum. Tulip The Holt, Harrow, Weald Tregothnan, Cornwall Frontispiece Facing page 10 18 20 24 26 3° 36 38 4° 42 44 xiii Facing page May Tulips . . . . V 46 Nackington, Canterbury Pink May Tulips . . . .48 Home Farm, Bundling. Bluebell and Pheasant-eye Narcissus . . 48 Easeney, Hertfordshire Peony . . . .50 Nackington, Canterbury Purple Iris. Welsh Poppy. Columbine . . 54 Nackington, Canterbury Arum Lilies . . . . 56 Trelissick, Cornwall Madonna Lily. Delphinium . . .62 Sweet Rocket . . . .74 Nackington, Canterbury Iris and Roses . . . .76 Nackington, Canterbury Iris Orientalis. Spiraa. Day Lily . . 76 R.H.S. Garden, Wisley Tree Lupin. Iris. Broom . . .78 R.H.S. Garden, Wisley Oriental Poppy and Lupin . . .78 Nackington, Canterbury Valerian . . . .80 Old Dover House, Canterbury xiv Facing page Giant Parsnip . . . .82 Chartham Rectory, Kent Delphinium and Giant Parsnip . . .82 Nackington, Canterbury Delphinium. Lily. P°ppy • • 9^ Nackington, Canterbury Cluster Rose . . . ..96 Nackington, Canterbury Cluster Rose . . . .98 Skarsted Court, Sittingbourne Foxgloves. Rose Euphrosyne . . . IOO Milton Court, Dorking Rose Garden . . . : . IO2 Gravetye, Sussex Lilium Szovitzianum . . Io6 R.H.S. Garden, Wisley Lily and Vine Pergola . . . Io8 Milton Court, Dorking Water Lilies . . . . Io8 R.H.S. Garden, Wisley Japanese Iris . . . . I Io R.H.S. Garden, Wisley Border of Annuals . . . .112 Milton Court, Dorking Clematis Perk d* Azure and Caroline Testout Rose . . Il8 Gravetye, Sussex Tucca and Pampas . . . I2O Chilham Castle, Canterbury XV Facing page Tropaolum Speciosum . . .120 Gravetye, Sussex Hollyhock . • . 122 Milton Court, Dorking Tritoma . . . .124 Nackington, Canterbury Hyacinthus Candicans. Gladiolus . . 126 Nackington, Canterbury Michaelmas Daisy . . . 1 2O Milton Court, Dorking Aster Sinensis and Clematis . . .142 Nackington, Canterbury Cyclamen Neapolitanum . . .144 Nackington, Canterbury Anemone Japonica. Autumn Crocus. Erigeron . 146 Nackington, Canterbury Amaryllis Belladonna and Zephyranthes . .148 Nackington, Canterbury Vine. Plumbago. Cobtta Scandens . . 152 Nackington, Canterbury Bocconia and Michaelmas Daisies . \ CA The Holt, Harrow, Weald Olive and Roses . . . .158 Bordighera XVI SPRING '•'•And the Spring arose on the garden fair, Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere ; And each flower and herb on Earth's dark breast Rose from the dreams of its wintry rest. • •«•». The snowdrop, and then the violet, Arose from the ground with warm rain wet, And their breath was mix'd with fresh odour, sent From the turf, like the voice and the instrument" — SHELLEY. YOU ask me to write about Spring and Spring gardens. Spring. What a worn-out subject, and how old ! And yet, Renewal although some of us may not realise it, how eternally of Hope new even to those near the end of life, who have seen many, many Springs, and watched the awakening of the earth year after year. If it is a saddening season for the old, and perhaps now and then even for the young, this renewal of hope ; — for the gardener, at any rate, it is a happy time, full of fruition, the reward of past thought and work. For, as the Dutch raise gardens from heaps of sand, and cities out of the bosom of the waters, so our spring gardens are in great part the result of our autumn labours, thought, work, and money spent. How rare in England, and how appreciated, is a really beautiful Spring such as we were blessed with in 1904. Slow and sure, full of promise, developing gradually with very few prematurely warm days and yet no severe checks. There were no dangerously cruel hard frosty nights such as make one turn in one's bed and long to rush out and quickly cover some early Camellia in flower, or protect the fat buds of a tree Peony, just as one would seize with warm hands the pink feet of some precious baby, if they were cold. The nights should be just cool enough to keep things back, as says the old French proverb, "The prettiest April wears a wreath of Frost." Then the velvety buds open safely and slowly. Ordinary people com- plain, but the cautious gardener says approvingly : " It's a backward Spring." There have only been a few days, balmy and divine like the spring of the poets. Even in towns every one appreciates the first change when January days begin to lengthen, and the first really fine 3 The afternoon comes towards the end of the month. In the country January Nature seems to make a great bound forward towards light and Flower hope. All the months are busy to the gardener, but January is Shows particularly so. There are the seeds to order and the hot-beds to make up, so much re-potting to be done. The C annas, which have been dried off under bushes after the first frost, and stored in a cellar, have to be brought up and potted up, only allowing one shoot in each pot. This makes them grow and flower out of doors much better than putting two or three shoots into a pot. If this potting up is postponed they come to perfection too late. All gardening means looking forward, imagining what is not, and at the end of January the first real sign of autumn planting shows itself. The straight spears of the Snowdrops and the cool glaucus green leaves of the Daffodil pierce the brown earth. The colour of the Narcissus leaves is not only beautiful in itself, but strongly suggestive of water, and certainly constitutes a most delicious ground-work for the bright yellow of the blossoms. In England, where the progress of early Spring is so slow, I think it is an instructive joy to go and meet her in the halls of the Royal Horticultural Society on dark afternoons in January and February. There one realises all that can be done under glass, and how things ought to look when well-grown. It is never pleasant to acknowledge one's own failures, but it is well to feel them, and it is a very helpful plan to compare the chronicle of one's own errors side by side with the brilliant successes seen at these shows. So early as the 26th of January this year (iqo4), at one of these Drill Hall shows, there was a beautiful plant, in a pot, of Clematis clrrhosa covered with flowers. This excited my admira- 4 tion, as for years I have had a plant in a pot, and never flowered Spring, it at all. I cannot think why it is not more grown in cool yet Late sunny greenhouses, or even with the slight protection of a glass Chrvsan- verandah, as it is all but hardy round London, and quite so in themums Devonshire and Ireland. It comes from North Africa. The improvement in late flowering Chrysanthemums is marked : " Winter Green " and " Tramfield Pink " struck me last spring as especially worth growing for table decoration in January. Cannell had a really fine show at the end of January of a com- paratively new plant, which is very effective when massed together— the beautiful blue Coleus Tbersoidens. The only chance of its living when gathered is to plunge the stalks, the moment they are picked, into warm water. It is the same with other varieties of Coleus, and many plants besides : if once they flag in the least they never recover. To me the most attractive things in the February shows were the small half-hardy winter Irises, grown in pans and pots : L Sindjarensis, with a pretty green foliage ; /. His trio, L Reti- culata, I. Persica, etc. ; all rather expensive to buy, but the whole tribe come out beautifully in water if picked in bud — a great merit for those who care to send flowers away. Cutbush's Highgate Nurseries catalogues and Wallace's, of Colchester, have long lists of bulbous and tuberous-rooted Irises. How few people take the trouble to find out the requirements of the hardy Iris Stylos a, the most beautiful of our winter-flowering plants. When well established, this Iris flowers unprotected through the whole winter — a precious garden gem. But while we in towns are talking of shows and the culti- vation of Spring under glass, in the country her tender feet are spreading far and wide into the hedgerows, and in the herbaceous 5 The borders great strong tufts are growing and covering the ground. February In our warm Surrey soil all this comes to pass early and more Flower happily than in colder, heavier soils, and the weeds that cause us Shows so much trouble later on are very beautiful in early Spring. The only thing which makes spring gardening really ugly, I think, is when bulbs are grown out of clean, bare, well-weeded beds. My garden, generally speaking, looks brown and colourless in early Spring. The large trees are too close together to stretch their brown arms handsomely against the pale sky, though their edges shiver in the wind. One piece of spring gardening I have which gives me great pleasure year by year. It is a broad grass border by the side of a gravel path under these self-same trees, most of them tall Spanish chestnut. From February to May it is really a pretty sight. Snowdrops there are to begin with, but they never grow luxuriantly in our soil. At the bottom of this green border, where the path turns and the long sweep of grass catches the Eastern sunshine, there is a very good Crocus effect. First, yellow Crocuses all in a mass coming through the brown fronds of dead ferns ; then a shady place with Dog-tooth Violets and Daffodils, that come later in the year ; then a mass of the dark purple Crocus, fading away into a mass of pale grey ones slightly striped ; round a corner, some more yellow ones, into which now and then appears, as a wanderer, a lilac or a white bunch with five or six flowers. The procession ends with a quantity of pure white Crocus. The yellow ones are perhaps the least pretty in the grass, but one loves them as they come out the first ; and in the ferns and grass, curiously enough, the sparrows leave them alone, though they attack them savagely in bare beds. Jack Frost's icy fingers do not turn the rims of the purple ones white under the protection of the trees, as they do 6 in the open. When first I planted this Crocus walk, some years Spring, ago, I put in 500 of each sort at the same time. It seemed Crocuses in rather extravagant when I did it, but it has quite answered, and Grass turned out a most satisfactory piece of planting. All grass where bulbs are planted wants mowing twice a year, in July and October. This last is most important, and facilitates spring growing; and when the leaves are swept up in November, a sprinkle of fresh earth and leaf mould does good — supplying what you take away. To go back to the succession under the trees facing north- west, and getting little sun all the spring-time. After the Snow- drops come the first early wild Daffodils or Lent- Lilies, then Dog- tooth Violets, white and purple ; and though liliaceous bulbs, they have stood the dryness well, being quite shaded all the summer. The beautiful North American kinds, which do so well in damp woods, I have not ventured on, as they want more moisture than I can give them. All the plants and bulbs in this spring grass border are planted in masses and clumps, in imitation of Nature — growing together, and yet without formality, one kind spreading more or less into the next group. I have also some Corydalls, or bulbous Fumitory^ with lovely fresh leaves and dull purplish flowers, as well as a good white variety. All these flower very early, protected by trees from wind and night frosts, and they are most precious. Primroses, wild Violets, and wood Hyacinths are all planted in the same place. Later, round the beautiful stems of the Chestnut trees, comes the prettiest sight of all — the hardy Anemones. The loveliest, perhaps, are A. blanda, A. apennina^ which flower a little later, and our single wood Anemone and the old double kind, A. nemorosa fl. pl.^ white as driven snow. In the shade, too, flourishes the pretty 7 Some sweet wild Woodruff, with its whorled leaves and its miniature Spring white flowers. I have failed utterly to grow any of the wild Flowers Orcnids : the dryness in summer kills them. Solomon's Seal does well. It seems a pity that on rockeries or in small beds in sunny places the type Crocus' are so seldom grown. The yellow Crocus Vernus is a perfect flower, the shape far more beautiful than that of any garden kind. The back of the graceful cup is striped with a series of dark-brown lines, which must not be mistaken for veins : they seem to be only for ornament. At Kew one year I saw several of these type Crocuses — C. Etruscus, C. Biflorus, C. Chrysanthus, C. White Tuscany, C. Susianus, Both the orange and bronzed Susianus flower very early, are importations from the Crimea, and look very well grown in pots or pans. In the paper called The Garden, of the 28th of January 1882, there is an interesting account of the Crocus family. Somewhat neglected in gardens, but one of the loveliest of Nature's spring decorations, are the catkin growing plants, begin- ning with the handsome male plant of the Garry a elliptica, which in favourable winters is most lovely. In dry, light soils it wants a good deal of pruning and feeding to make it do well. I have not succeeded in growing it as a shrub, though it does well so grown in moist soils. Hazels, which are so useful as food, are too little grown and cultivated now in small gardens. Every one knows the pretty catkins which hang all through the winter, and wave like fairy flags in the wintry blast, but few notice how the real flower of the Hazel appears also in an expanded state in Autumn. The hardy male catkin passes the Winter without external pro- tection, but the female flowers are tenderly wrapped up within an enveloping scale. In March the styles lengthen, and though 8 very small, their lovely crimson colour makes them quite con- Spring, spicuous for those who look for them. The bracts grow steadily Careful Nut through the summer, and form envelopes round the nuts, and Cultivation these envelopes have the shape and often the colour of leaves. In cultivating Cob-nuts and Filberts for fruit-bearing pur- poses, it is most essential to keep down suckers, the more tree- like the plants, the more productive they are ; hence the importance of removing all plants of any description from the stem, and latent buds from the base and stems of seedlings. The height of stem may vary from one foot to six feet. The trees are classified according to the height of their stems as standards, half standards, and dwarf standards, the natural or many stemmed bush being generally termed a nut or filbert stool. For beauty of growth along wood paths these are much the prettiest, and if the soil is carefully prepared by trenching and manuring they do well in almost any soil. A good deep loam in a rather dry sunny position is what suits the Cob-nuts best, as it encourages the production of short fruit-bearing wood. During severe Winters the male blossoms are often injured by frost. In other seasons and in certain localities, the cultivated Filbert produces few catkins. In either case, these should be collected from wild Hazel nuts, and suspended among the better varieties. When planting, choose well-established suckers, or layers, four or more years old. Firmly stake them as soon as planted, and place a spadeful or two of manure on the soil over the roots. The botanical name for the nut is Corylus, from Korys, a hood or helmet, in reference to the calyx covering the nut. This nut cultivation has led me into a long digression, but I feel sorry to see nut trees so seldom grown with care. All the Willow tribe have pretty flowers on the bare stems; B 9 An early pussies or palms the children call them ; wild or cultivated they Flowering- are lovely objects. The catkins of the white Poplar are par- Shrub ticularly showy. A stall at the Horticultural Show one day in February was entirely devoted to Catkinas and flowers of this nature, and very interesting and beautiful they were. A very early flowering-shrub, and one rarely grown, as it is not showy, is Mtttallta cerasiformis^ a deciduous shrub, a native of California. It grows anywhere, and is quite hardy. It can be lifted for early flowering, as can also the Kibes Sanguineum, and its white variety, which the Mittallia some- what resembles when in bloom. No garden lover who cares for individual plants should be without an A%ara microphylla, a South American shrub, with small, delicate, evergreen foliage, and quite hardy. I suppose it likes a light sandy soil, as it does equally well with me on a north wall, and also facing south, as a bush. Both flourish, and both in spring are covered with miniature yellow flowers, which grow on the underneath side of the branches, and are so small they might easily be passed over, but that for a few days in March they fill the whole air with a delicious delicate scent exactly like vanilla. I suppose we all have, in spite of much disappointment and many fits of depression, moments of pride and pleasure in our gar- dens ; moments when we long to show them off, these our children making perhaps a special gardening effect, to some understanding friend. This comes to me most years when late frosts have not been severe, and the beautiful Crown Imperials raise their stately heads in very large clumps. They are strong plants, and are no doubt able to take care of themselves in some soils and some climates, but here, in this sandy, dry Surrey, nothing does well if left really alone. "Wild gardening" as a synonym for 10 CROWN IMPERIALS. WOODLANDS, COBIIAM. leaving alone, spells failure and deterioration for everything, Spring. even the common Primroses ! The soil must be renewed every Crown two or three years, and the greatest difficulty is to know when Imperials to replant things in a full border. Crown Imperials must be done in June or July, as, once the bulbs have started into growth, moving them, as gardeners generally do when digging up the borders in October and November, is fatal, and results in a quantity of weak green shoots and no flowers at all. I have three coloured Crown Imperials — the so-called red, which is a terra-cotta colour ; the pale yellow, and an orange-coloured one which is less free flowering and comes into bloom a little later than the others. Mr Robinson's charming new periodical, " Flora and Silva," which is not nearly well enough known, is published monthly, with a beautifully reproduced coloured plate, for the small sum of is. 3d. In the July number of 1903 there is an article on Fritillaria, and a coloured illustration of F. Askabadenis^ which I have never seen. Apparently it is only half hardy, and has to be treated like other spring bulbs — potted up in early Autumn, plunged in the open till well rooted, and then put in a cool green-house or cold frame, when it will flower early in the year. The article recommends raising Frltillarias from seed. This I have never tried. For a brilliant, showy effect in shrubberies in early Spring, there is nothing like bold clumps of Honesty, Lunaria biennis ; but, like the Foxglove, it is one of those biennials which puzzle amateurs who think that because they have a fine show one year they will get the same in the next, and this is just what does not happen. These biennials sow themselves freely, and all the cultivation necessary is thinning out and transplanting last year's seedlings to where they are to flower. This can be 1 1 Grape done as soon as the autumn weather gets cool and wet, and the Hyacinths earlier the better. Grape Hyacinths (Muscari) look lovely and grown on a bank or along a shady hedge, planted thickly and in Iris Stylosa a ^arSe quantity. They appear year after year, probably in some soils for ever, if not disturbed ; their Crocus-like leaves are well above the ground in early Autumn. I find it a great privilege to be near a first-rate nursery like Mr Barr's at Surbiton, and he is so kind and so willing to teach the amateur really interested that I learn there a very great deal. He is most successful with the Iris stylosa, which flower at Surbiton from December to April, planted right in the open ground with no sort of protection. They are never moved, only pieces taken off if he wants to increase them, and mulched with manure now and then in August when they are forming their buds deep down among the rushy growth. Being well in the open, they catch every ray of the low winter sun. Though so unshowy when growing, is there any winter flower half so lovely as an Iris stylosa picked in bud, early in the morning, and joyfully bursting into full bloom in the warm room ? But to return to the nursery: at perhaps its most glorious time, the Tulip time in May — for the Daffodil season in April is very attractive, is all more or less of one colour — but at the Tulip time, there are sheets and bands of beautiful pure colour of every shade and every kind except blue. I have never seen the famous Tulip acres in Holland, so I know nothing that surpasses Mr Barr's fields of early and late Tulips. I long to have them all ; but apart from the question of room in a private garden, there is the very important consideration of price, and one should order with care, as many of the cheap Tulips are just as beautiful as the expensive ones. In Tulip-planting in gardens, there are 12 many plants besides the Forget-me-nots which help to cover the Spring. ground : Sax. Wallace* taken up after flowering, and divided Early Tulip and replanted over Tulips in October, makes a beautiful ground- Effects work ; so does the double Arabis, Sllene^ Limnanthus Douglas ii^ Wall-flowers, and many other things. Tulips planted in groups in full herbaceous borders look very well, and can be planted so deep that they need not be disturbed. If Tulips are taken up too early they are little use for the next year. But if this must be done, then the best way is to take them up and plunge them at once into pails of water, then plant them in a trench in half shade that has been well wetted, and leave them there till the leaves and stalks are quite gone ; then lift them, dry them in the sun, and plant again in October. For forcing and table decoration, pink double Tulips are, I think, the best. The names of a few of the good ones are : Salvator rosa^ Lady Palmerston, Murillo, Princess Beatrice, Couronne de Roses ; this has a very fine soft rose-colour when forced. I think quite the most beautiful early flowering Tulip out of doors is T. Greigii, but it is a bit difficult ; it wants to be planted deep, and to be left alone in a warm sheltered place. T. Sylvestris and T. Reflexa are both lovely in shape. Three very good purple expensive ones are u Remembrance," " Zephir," and " Valentine." " Mrs Moon " is a lovely shaped yellow, something like Reflex a, but later flowering. " Susan " is a lovely Tulip by candle-light. " Blushing Bride " and " Cottage Maid " are very pretty cheap Tulips. A double Tulip, called " Yellow Rose," is an excellent one for planting in grass, or on a slope. Its head is a little heavy for its stalk, and it gets rain-splashed in the border, but in the grass it lies smiling upwards, and is very repaying, as it lasts a long time. In all planting of Tulips with other plants 13 Difficulties between, they look far better if not planted formally but in of Spring large and small groups. Laying flat stones on the bed and Gardening" planting round them is a great help. This is the great difficulty of all spring planting — avoiding formality and getting the right contrast of colour. To achieve these two things is the great triumph of Spring Gardening. Tulips do well planted in grass in moist soils, but that is not the case in light sand. In Summer nature throws her arms about and plays all sorts of unexpected and beautiful tricks, but in Spring everything depends on the imagination of the gardener. Nature brings forth what you have yourself put in ; she does nothing else for you. The aim of the horticulturist for large masses of all one colour and for every bulb to be the same height is, I think, a mistaken ambition, especially in small and informal gardens. These should always be an enlargement of the cottage garden, not an imitation of the stately, formal terraces of large places, such as figure with magnified dignity and all the exaggerated perspective of photography in " Country Life." Once the bulbs are nearly over, and when the tall, single Cottage Tulips, graceful and varied, reminding one of the em- broideries of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, are only straight green seed pods, and the Parrot Tulips bow their heads and lie down to drop their lovely petals on the ground — then comes a time of rest and dulness difficult to cope with in almost every garden. Spring is dying, and the lingering cold winds frighten away the approach of Summer. The Ranunculus tribe which help to fill the gap are difficult to grow in light soils. R. amplexicaules, so well worth growing, has a tiresome way of disappearing. In a half shady border, full in Autumn of the flowers of the Japanese Anemones, the roots of which so resent being dis- Spring, turbed, I grow R. Aconltefolius, with its pretty name of Some of the " Fair Maids of France," and its single form, which grows by Ranunculus Swiss mountain streams. R. Acris, the double and single " Bachelor's Buttons," also survive. With difficulty and care, and some spring watering, I manage the two commonest varieties of the Trollius, which are well worth all trouble. First comes *T. Europtzus, with its almost uniquely globular form, " Globe- flower" being its well-deserved name. Pale yellow, with its moonlight hue like the Mimosa, and then a little later T. Asiaticus^ smaller, with bright orange yellow flowers show- ing orange red anthers, it seems to flourish better here in my warm soil than the European variety, in memory, perhaps, of its warmer home in China and Japan. The difficulties of growing well so many desirable plants make one often long for a new garden and another soil, where present failures would grow abundantly and easily. But this discontent I observe only grows if yielded to ; a garden here means wishing for a garden in Cornwall, and a garden in Cornwall means wishing for one in the South of France. There the wishes wander to Sicily or North Africa, and so it is best to return to the old platitude, and be content to fight and conquer one's own difficulties. There are at least two distinct sorts of modern gardens : one planted to get good permanent effects three or four months in the year ; the other to grow as many healthy plants as possible the whole year round — that is my object, and the reason why my garden is so great a disappointment to many people. The general effect is often crowded, spotty, and untidy, but I can pick incessantly without any fear of spoiling a combina- tion or destroying a contrast that makes a picture while it lasts. '5 Some of the Whatever we do or do not do, Spring in England must Ranunculus always be lovely, and we all of us long to share our country Spring with our town friends. Tennyson's spring invitation to an old friend in his last volume called Demeter all will be glad to have recalled : — " Spring flowers while you still delay to take Your leave of Town, Our elm-tree's ruddy-hearted blossom-flake Is fluttering down. Be truer to your promise. There ! I heard One cuckoo call. Be needle to the magnet of your word, Nor wait, till all Our vernal bloom from every vale and plain And garden pass, And all the gold from each laburnum chain Drop to the grass. Is memory with your Marian gone to rest, Dead with the dead ? For ere she left us, when we met, you prest My hand and said : 'I come with your spring flowers.' You came not, friend ; My birds would sing, You heard not. Take, then, this spring flower I send, This song of Spring, And you that now are lonely, and with Grief Sit face to face, Might find a fleeting glimmer of relief In change of place. 16 What use to brood ? this mingled life of pains Spring". And joys to me, Despite of every Faith and Creed, remains The mystery. The silver year should cease to mourn and sigh Not long to wait — So close are we, dear Mary, you and I To that dim gate." The wish to share what we have with those we love cannot, I think, be more charmingly expressed than is done in these verses by the poet of the generation now passing away, the Tennyson we loved in our youth. MARIA THERESA EARLE. FEBRUARY "Out of the snow the Snowdrops, Out of Death comes Life." — David Gray. Heralds of £~^ TRICTLY speaking, February belongs to the Winter Spring" ^^ months, but when it grants us mild sunny days, and we feel the life stirring in the garden around us, and the first flowers begin to bloom, our thoughts turn to the delights of Spring, looking forward with happy anticipation to the wonderful succession of beauty which the year is to bring us in our gardens. We forget for a time that long spells of East wind are sure to follow, that the moist earth will again be hard as iron, and all vegetation suspend its growth. This year the heralds of Spring are later than usual. Anemone Blanda, which often cheers us early in January by the sight of its bent stalks and blue tips forcing their way through the ground, now on February 1 8th is hardly showing. It has been a mild winter too, only one spell of hard frost which lasted about a week, but the sun has refused to shine, and rain has fallen almost in- cessantly. Snowdrops undoubtedly bring the first real effect of the year. They are in perfection now in a neighbouring garden, and seem to have taken entire possession of a wood. There must be millions of them, single and double, long stalks holding their graceful bells, and making lovely sheets of glistening white through the rich warm brown of last year's leaves. They seem to grow equally well under the fine old 18 C/3 CM o tt Q £ O X c/5 Elms half covered with Ivy, looking almost like gigantic ever- February. greens, and under the brushwood already warm in tone with Snowdrops coming life. Sunshine reveals them at their best, the three- an(j Cycla- petalled bell is then open, displaying the green spotted frill men Coum inside. The low winter rays turn the grey-green leaves to a golden green, and transfigure a white that can look almost too coldly pure We have tried to naturalise them in our wood, but they will not grow as they do at Bourne Park, only three miles away, and it is foolish to hope for a real effect if they refuse to multiply of themselves ; a thousand bulbs planted, sounds rich in promise but the result is disappointing. They seem to revel and increase rapidly in a loose soil, rich with decayed wood and leaf mould and rather damp. My ambition is to get them established at the foot of a bank running up a slip of wood of mixed Beech, Elm and Oak, and lying open to the West. In the dampest part there is also to be a colony of the Swiss spring Snowflake, with its big round bell and spots of green outside. On the bank itself are already Cyclamen Coum^ ranging from almost white to pink and rosy red. They are in flower with the Snowdrops, sometimes appearing as early as January, and make a precious and unusual bit of colour in these winter months. They last many weeks and stand bad weather well, reappearing as bright as possible from under a heavy fall of snow. Their leaves are very dark and round and smooth, with a rosy-purple underside, and help very much to make the tiny flowers effective. Their position on the top of the bank seems to suit them perfectly ; the tubers, throwing up a profusion of flowers, grow larger each year, and distribute seedlings round them in a most satisfactory way. To increase the stock it is a '9 Winter good plan to pick the curled seed vessels when ripe and sow Aconite them at once in pots, which should be placed in a cold frame ; and early reP°t them when they have thrown up their first tiny leaves, and Shrubs keeP under glass till they are strong enough to be trusted out of doors. Cyclamen Neapolttanum prospers on the same bank, forming a pretty contrast to Cyclamen Coum. The leaves are mottled green and white, very handsomely marked, heart-shaped, and rather serrated at the edge. Unfortunately, no dainty white flowers are to be found on it now : this plant divides its beauties, the flowers being in perfection in the early Autumn, and the leaves in the Winter and Spring. Winter Aconite (Erantbis Hyemalis] is another invaluable plant for this season. It flowers from January to March, and is easily naturalised in woods or thin grass ; beneath big trees where even grass will not grow, this tuberous rooted perennial forms a carpet of yellow under low sweeping boughs. Grown with Snowdrops it gives beautiful and simple effects of colour in the wood, but it is as well to keep it away from the neigh- bourhood of the Cyclamen, as the pink and yellow are too gaudy a combination and spoil each other. The early Grape Hyacinths, Muse art Axureum and Heavenly Blue, also look well with Snowdrops, and are quite hardy. Two very charming shrubs are in flower now — Cbimon- antbus fragrant and Winter Jasmine — Jasminium nudiflorum. The Chimonanthus needs a South wall, and then from January to March will bear strange little faintly-coloured flowers close to the woody stems with a very sweet smell ; they are delicious for picking, but insignificant on the plant. In a good season the Jasmine can be counted on for a gay bit of colour all through the Winter, but this year the frequent rain has never 20 o u w " < p u given it a chance. It is a convenient hardy climber, growing February. very rapidly, and easily increased by the suckers which form round the roots of an old plant. It is contented with any aspect, but is worth granting a share of a Southern wall as it repays the attention by beginning to flower well in November, and in the early Spring will cover itself with yellow sprays. 21 MARCH " Often, in sheltering brakes As one from rest disturb'd in the first hour, Primrose or violet bewilder'd wakes, And deems 'tis time to flower ; Though not a whisper of her voice he hear, The buried bulb does know The signals of the year, And hails far Summer with his lifted spear." — Coventry Patmore. Crocuses \ It ARCH brings us as its first great joy the Crocuses ; a few in Grass I y I days ago the green tips were hardly visible, now the sun has forced their hearts open, and the grass is streaked with their brilliant colour: — "... And winter sped, Whirled before the Crocus the year's new gold." The common Crocus lends itself to a great variety of effect with its rich purples and yellows and delicate mauves and whites, and will grow in almost any position, semi-shade or sun, in grass, round trees or shrubs, or in the open borders. It is not particular about soil but increases fastest in a good loam with some sand added. Everywhere they are delightful, but for greatest beauty grow them in the grass, because, having only insignificant leaves of their own, they look the better for a background of green. An old orchard near here is one of the loveliest Spring sights of the year — the grass under the trees transformed into shimmering waves of mauve and white, March. with Primrose tips which promise a further pleasure, and white Crocus and purple Violets already opening their fragrant flowers. The Colour Crocuses look as much at home as the small wild one of the pffect Swiss Alps. There the white one with a deep purple stem is the commonest, but a few of the mauve are generally inter- spersed. A little damp seems to suit them, as wherever there is a dimple on the slope or a terrace shaded by trees, the ground will be almost as white as if snow were lying. To obtain the most brilliant effects, plant " Cloth of Gold " — a name which truly describes it — or " Cloth of Gold " mixed with Purpurea grandiflora, making together a truly regal carpet if planted in large masses. Intermixed too much they are apt at a distance to give a speckly result. A graduated stream of white and mauve and purple winding through the grass and round stems of trees looks beautiful. Mont Blanc, Madame Mina, and Purpurea grand'tflora may be used if the small expense of about 2s. a hundred be not a consideration, or cheap lots can be had at lod. a hundred in separate colours only in mixed kinds ; but these economies are generally regretted after- wards. In this way they are used largely in the London parks, and many more gardens might imitate the plan with great advantage ; while the beds are still bare, filled with their dormant plants, there are stretches of grass which should be made at this time to burst into lovely blossom. The only penalty attached to this pleasure is that the grass must remain unmown till May, but that is a small one if the places are chosen with wisdom. I find a good tool for planting them is an ordinary weeding spud; a hole about 3 in. deep is quickly made with it, and a basket of good soil and sand Iris mixed should be handy ; a pinch must be put under each bulb Reticulata and a handful on the top, and then the grass be pressed back into place. In really thick grass a heavy iron bar about 4 ft. 6 in. long, with a blunt point at one end, is a very useful weapon for putting in bulbs ; if raised a little and then dropped, its own weight drives it into the ground several inches, and by a twisting movement the hole is easily made big enough even for Narcissus bulbs. Besides these Dutch kinds, which lend themselves so well to massing, there are many rare kinds flowering earlier, which must be treated as treasures. By the bestowal of a little care it is possible to have Crocuses in flower from the end of August to April. On a warm bank Iris reticulata and Mont Blanc Crocus are making a charming group, the white throwing up the rich purple and orange of this Iris. It belongs to the bulbous section of Irises or Xipbions, and only grows about 10 in. high, but flowers are so precious in February and March that it is worth while planting a good big clump of them. The blossoms last in water a week or ten days, and have the great merit of being very sweet-scented. For some time it was a disappointing plant with us, as it flowered only the first year in the borders and then disappeared, but it seems to appreciate its present position on a dry bank facing west. For success it must have good drainage, some sand, plenty of sun, and protection from slugs. It can be increased from seed, but it takes three years to form a bulb, and the quicker way is to take the off-sets from the old bulbs, disturbing them as little as possible, and planting the babies early in the Autumn. There are other early kinds which flower at the same time and want a similar treatment ; 24 IRIS RETICULATA AND CROCUS. NACKINGTON, CANTERBURY. /. bis trio is perhaps the loveliest of all, with bright blue standards, March, cream falls and blue markings ; /. histrioides also very blue Hepaticas and /. persica purple scented like Violets. jn "Wood In some gardens Hepaticas — Anemone hepatica — are now a feature, but they do not thrive very well with us. One longs for them to grow as they do in the Pine forests and low woods of Switzerland. Under the Pines they do not flower so freely as in less shady places, but make up for the failure in number by bearing much larger flowers, longer in the stalk and fuller in colour. In one lovely spot I remember they were surrounded by tufts of shining white Violets, while not far away in a wood of Oak-scrub the ground was mauve and yellow with them and Primroses, making, with the old brown leaves above, a lovely picture worth a great effort to imitate at home. I brought back several dozen roots, and have planted them on a wooded bank, hoping to prove myself a successful rival on a small scale. They will get light shade in Summer, and sun in Spring when it is needed to open the buds and expose the pretty circle of white stamens. The soil should be light and rich, with plenty of leaf mould and well drained ; when once planted they should be left alone, and will grow in time to fine tufts bearing a profusion of flowers. The single ones can be increased by seed, but will not flower for three years. Hepaticas may be had double or single in pink, white, or mauve, but the double white is new and still very rare. Anemone blanda must be considered our greatest early Spring success, particularly as it will not grow well in all gardens and so gratifies our pride with the sight of the lovely patches of blue. It really is nearly a true blue, certainly degrees nearer it than the many flowers which are described as such. We D 25 Anemone had our first tubers many years ago, they were planted under blanda the east and west walls of the kitchen garden and took to us in the kindest way. Facing west they are always two or three weeks earlier than those with an eastern aspect, generally be- ginning to flower in January and reaching their full beauty in March. Both seed freely, and have increased so much that we have been able to try naturalising them under trees and in the grass. A piece of ground was well cleared on the south side of an old Yew and the Anemones put in with a clump or two of Daffodil cernuus, the early soft cream-white one which is so delicate it wants some colour to show it up. This year the bed has been quite beautiful ; the ground and even their own green were quite hidden with the large starry flowers, set close together, all turning their eyes to the sun, and in every shade of blue, from a pale one almost grey to a real deep azure. The loveliest variety of all has a clear white ring round the base of the petals. The bed has the great merit of re- taining its beauty for several weeks — the flowers saving them- selves by shutting every night and only opening on dry days. We are trying them too in the rough grass into which our lawn merges. It would be delightful if the blue stars could be scattered there as the mauve-pink ones are in the Italian fields, but with us that plan does not answer as the grass is too coarse, forming a mass of roots half a foot deep. The only plan when starting a colony of some fresh flower is to clear the ground completely and carpet it with some small-rooted green plant. Ornitbogalum umbellatum and nutans might be used to succeed the fading Anemones. The former might perhaps struggle successfully in the grass itself — certainly in the meadows above Como it is almost as common as Daisies; on grey days 26 13 P w u Q O 2 2 CQ U X O ^ w Wi.jn the striped green petals are closely shut it is hardly March. noticeable, but in the sun each stem bears eight or nine white Chionodoxa satin-like flowers. Nutans is taller, ten or twelve inches in an(j Scilla height, with the flowers arranged up the stem forming a handsome spike. In a light soil it increases very fast and somer times becomes a troublesome weed. Another flower which gives us great delight in March is Chionodoxa Lucilitz. Here it takes time to establish itself and then sends up spikes 8 in. high, bearing ten or so most exquisite sky-blue flowers with a pointed white centre to each. A few dozen scattered about a rockery give no idea of its beauty, there should be at least a large group of them. No great preparation is needed when planting, a little leaf mould and sand will content them, and 35. will buy a hundred but will probably not satisfy the purchaser. Chionodoxa Sardensis is a little earlier and a little bluer, but the flowers do not form such a pretty spray. Scilla Siberica is in the same border, but they ought not to be very close together; the two blues a little spoil each other's beauty, and Siberica is dwarfed by its taller neighbour. I feel that all these early blue flowers are helped very much in effect by the addition of some cream-white, such as Hyacinths, white Polyanthus, and the double white Primroses. They are low-growing and not seen to the best advantage against their mother earth : very little green is out except that of the Welsh Poppy, which is a good neighbour to any early bulbs — low while they are in flower and growing tall enough later to cover the faded remains with its yellow flowers. Two of the sweetest scented plants of the year belong to this month — -Daphne Mezereum and the Violet. The Daphne, 27 Daphne though of an unobtrusive shade of pink, is very effective if and grown in sufficient quantity ; several good-sized bushes look Violet we^ together against Yews or dark evergreens with white Polyanthus beneath them. On a warm spring day the scent is delicious and travels far. We are very fortunate in having many wild sweet Violets about the place — it seems almost a contradiction to talk of the modest Violet making an effect, but they certainly form delightful patches of colour growing wild in the grass — there are white, lavender grey, puce and purple, and all very sweet. 28 APRIL u Whan that Aprille with his shoures sote The drogte of Marche hath perced to the rote, And bathed every veyne in swich licour, Of which vertu engendred is the flour ; Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth Inspired hath in every holt and heeth The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne, And smale fowles waken melodye, That slepen all the night with open ye (So priketh hem nature in hir corages) : Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages (And palmers for to seken straunge strondes) To ferae halwes, couthe in sondry londes ; And specially, from every shires ende Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende." — Chaucer. FOREMOST in beauty among April flowers are the Narcissi Daffodils, or rather the Narcissi — Daffodils being only a and group of the genus. So rich in colour and so lush in Daffodil growth, they seem, coming at its height, to be the very essence of Spring. If careful in our choice of varieties their bloom can be enjoyed from March to the middle of May. As yet we have few of the rarer sorts, and from our own experiences can only offer suggestions for some simple arrange- ments of the old kinds ; but these will fill the garden with a beauty which no summer flowers can excel. They lend them- selves above all others to naturalisation : by which I mean they can be planted and left alone year after year, and be made to look as though they were really wild in field or wood. Our own 29 Wild West Country pastures, rich with the small wild Daffodil, and the Narcissus Pheasant-eye Narcissus of the Swiss Alps, suggest an ideal to Effects attain to. Few things are more wonderful than the Narcissus fields above the Lake of Geneva, gleaming from miles away like a fall of snow on the slopes of the mountains : to hope for similar acres of scented bloom would be useless in most gardens, but we can adapt the idea to our own country. Our woods, fields, the banks of streams and the edges of lakes can be thickly planted with them, enhancing the beauty on every side. If we have not the opportunity of planting on this large scale, we can fill the dull spaces in front of our shrubberies, and the bare ground between young shrubs, or any stretches of grass running perhaps under the shade of trees which can be left unmown till the leaves are dead. For picking it is a good plan to plant them in clumps between Gooseberry and Currant bushes. Early in April the rough grass lying between the lawn and wood is dancing with Daffodils. The first out are Obvallaris and the old double yellow; Primroses cluster at their feet, the lemon and deep yellow making a pleasant contrast round an old Yew-tree. Then a little later, where the branches of a big tree sweep the ground, the Stellas raise their pointed buds and open lemon-coloured petals, revealing the yellow cups ; Obval- laris, only half the height of Stella, displays its golden-yellow flowers in the foreground, Emperor raises its strong wide trumpets behind, and the early Forget-me-not [dissitiflora] encircles them with a sky-blue ring. For this particular group we took the coarse grass right away, replacing it with Forget-me-not and Welsh Poppy. The latter enjoys the shade as much as the Daffodils, but as it resents being transplanted it is best to sow it where wanted and it will soon multiply itself. Later, when the 3° H 0 z w ~ H U o Pti 0 u. o dead flowers of Stella have all been picked off, there is a pretty April, effect with Pheasant-eye rising from its blue setting, and, still Planting of later again, towards the end of May, the double Gardenia-like Daffodils Narcissus will be in flower. Where the grass does not grow strong enough to stifle the bulbs the best plan is to lift the turf, fork the soil well to a good depth, and when it has settled down again plant the bulbs, and replace the turf. If it is too sticky add some gritty stuff or wood ashes, and never allow strong manure to lie round the bulbs, though in some soils they will be the better for old manure filtering through from above. To increase the stock plant in fresh ground deeply dug, with good drainage. In two years the strong kinds ought to have doubled themselves ; it is most important that any lifting should be done in June or July, whenever the leaves have turned yellow about half way down. August and September are the right months for replanting and give the strongest growth, but the bulbs will flower fairly well if put in as late as November. All the common, and many of the new lovely sorts, do well in any average soil and under deciduous trees if not too near the roots. The " Book of the Daffodil," by the Rev. S. S. Bourne, would be found a great help by any one wishing to make a collection. It gives most valuable information con- cerning the best kinds to grow, and how to grow them, with much useful general advice, such as : to buy well to start with, good bulbs taking no more room than bad ; to have all the most beautiful classes represented, and to consider the succession of flower and the different shades of yellow. It is a mistake to mix the bulbs of several kinds which flower at the same time, they look so much better in distinct groups — the groups being 31 Selections of sometimes allowed to intermingle and a full yellow being used Narcissus to show off a pale one. The number of varieties is now so great that a selection must be made. At every Spring exhibition new and most beautiful flowers are produced which one longs to buy by the hundred, and on inquiry finds that even a single bulb is a prohibitive price. The following list gives the names of a few of those suitable for massing, and reasonable in price. They are arranged in five groups, as far as possible in the order of their flowering. Group I. — Large Trumpeted varieties, or " Long Crowns " Pseudo-Narcissus. The early English wild one. Princeps. Larger than the former but the same colouring, pale yellow perianth and a golden yellow trumpet. Telamonius plenus. Common double Daffodil — good for effect from a distance. Obvallaris. Self yellow, rather short and not so hardy as some. Medium Crowns or Star Narcissi Queen Bess. The first of the Stella variety. Lemon yellow. Group 2. — "Long Crowns" Horsfieldii, quite one of the finest, with its wonderful blending of palest lemon perianth and very yellow trumpet, and its handsome blue-green foliage. 32 Empress is very like the above but a little larger and more April, expensive, and flowers later. Good Varieties of Medium Crowns Narcissus Sir Watkin, very large, self yellow full colour. Stella^ very strong grower, tall and graceful, nearly white perianth and pale yellow cup. Short Crowns Odorus rugulosus. Yellow jonquil, very sweet. Group 3. — Long Crowns Emperor, full yellow, very large, tall and strong. Medium Crowns Double Orange Phoenix (Eggs and Bacon), white and reddish orange. Golden Phoenix (Butter and Eggs), pale and deep yellow. Short Crowns Burbidgei, white perianth and orange cup. Group 4. — Medium Crowns Barri conspicuus^ very useful large starry yellow flowers with orange red cups. Sulphur Phoenix — double — (Codlins and Cream) white and pale yellow. Mrs Langtry ^ Minnie (. all pale starry flowers. Duchess of Brabant ) * 33 Good Group 5. — Long Trumpets Varieties of Grandee, like Horsficldii—vetj fine. Narcissus Short Crowns Beatrice Heseltine, rather more expensive, with red-edged cup. Prtecox grandiflorus. Ornatus, small but very sweet, pale eye. Narcissus biflorus, two flowers on a stem with lemon yellow eye. Poetarum^ with a very red eye. Poeticus, the garden Pheasant-eye, tall and strong. Poetic us plenus^ like a gardenia. The Pheasant-eye Narcissi in this group all flower one after the other in the kindest way. No white-trumpeted varieties have been included because, though quite lovely, they are delicate and expensive for mass- ing. The small Cernuus does pretty well with us, and looks lovely growing from Anemone Blanda, but we have not trusted it in the grass, and for pale yellow effects it is best to use the Leedsi and Incomparabilis varieties which are among the hardiest. Grape Hyacinths belong to this month. The common one Muscari botryoides looks lovely planted thickly in front of Horsfieldii. They seem just the right tone and strength of blue to go well together, or a rich carpet of two distinct blues can be made by Muscari rising from a bed of Forget-me-not dissitiflora. There are white and pale blue varieties as well as the deep blue one, all hardy and thriving in almost any soil. 34 Muscari Armeniacum and Heldreichi are later and finer, but April, they cost 2d. and 4d. apiece instead of is. a hundred. M. conicum Grape from the Campagna is a useful sort and due to flower in Hyacinths March. and Close to one of our groups of Daffodils, and just between p0ivonfnllo two big trees, we have a colony of white and bright yellow Polyanthus. They are now in full flower and carry on very charmingly the light and deep yellow tones of the Daffodils. I must confess though that they are not growing as well as they did in a garden border under the shadow of a box edging, and fear their new home was not well enough prepared for them, and that the roots of the trees are robbing them of what little nourishment there is. The shade they appreciate — one day of hot sun being apt to lay leaves and flowers prostrate on the ground — and will thrive under and round trees if given a good deep soil and, if possible, a cool, moist situation. A north aspect under a wall where little or no sun reaches them suits them well, and they will be all the better if some old manure be forked in at the time of planting. We have only two kinds in any quantity at present : white with a yellow eye, and full yellow with an orange eye. I prefer them to the many gold- laced pink, brick-red and crimson ones ; many of these are beautiful when looked into, or arranged in water, but from the point of view of colour, for bedding or naturalising in woods, the less gold lacing and the purer the colours, the better they look. A good selection of yellows and rich red browns with Wallflowers of the same tone give an unusual effect of quiet yet deep rich colouring. Prettier really than the Polyanthus are the bunched Primroses. Unfortunately we have very few, but a corner of 35 Bunched wood in a friend's garden looks now as if a rare Eastern carpet Primroses had been spread beneath the trees. Polyanthus and Primrose and are growing there together, the latter with an especially fine Polvanthus ran£e °f col°urs» white, pale and deep yellow, lilac, pink and red through many shades to blue and red purple, each plant forming a round tuft of bloom. With care one might have the most beautiful and varied effect, blending one colour into another and sorting out those which were not harmonious. The whites and yellows might lead to the shades of blue and blue purple. The pinks, and the numberless shades between them and the red purples, could form a group by themselves. Among Spring flowers they come certainly next to the Daffodils for use and beauty and ease of growing. To get up a stock, buy or beg seed of some good strain when it is ripe in June, sow it at once either out of doors in a bed of fine soil and sand, or in shallow boxes. Prick them out when big enough in a shady place, and by the following Spring they will be flowering plants. Or if a particular colour is wanted, as the seeds cannot be depended on to come true, ask for some bits off a friend's plants at the end of May. To grow them well, both Primroses and Polyanthus should be taken up every year or two, according to the soil and growth, directly the flowers have faded, the tufts pulled to pieces and the crowns replanted separately. In good soil the plants will increase so fast that many crowns go to the waste-heap which might more profitably be given away. If they are to be replanted in the same place in the wild garden or wood, the ground must first be well dug and manured. If wanted for Spring bedding, plant in some out-of-the-way shady spot for the Summer. The double and single Primroses, being grateful for the 36 PVRUS JAPONICA. NACKIXGTOX, CANTERBURY. shade and shelter, may also be used as woodland plants, and such April. sorts as Primula Altaica, a very early mauve-pink one which Blossoming begins to flower quite in the Winter. It is best to leave them un- Trees and disturbed except for the purposes of increase, when they must be Shrubs taken up and divided like the others. The double white is lovely, and the pale yellow and the mauve. There is a magenta one which is almost too startling in colour. Spring seems to reach its highest point of beauty by the middle of April. The trees are all bursting into leaf, and on the warm still days a feeling of life and growth pervades the whole garden. It is the moment for the blossoming trees and shrubs, and each year one feels that nothing can be more lovely. This year the late cold weather has brought everything out together, wild Cherry, Almond, Prunus, Pyrus japonica, Forsytbia^ etc. The Pyrus japonica has been out some weeks and is still in beauty. The sketch was made at Harrow and shows how very much one plant can help another in making an effect. The delicate colouring of the Japonica, its cream flowers splashed with salmon and rose-pink, is well thrown up by the deep plum-red shoots of the Rose growing beside it and trained to the corner of the house. It is often not realised how beautiful the shoots of a free-growing Rose are at this time of year if left unpruned, as many of the Teas should be. The old red Japonica is also very effective. We have a cascade of it over the roof of a tool-house. On a grey morning it is delightful to look up and catch the rose-red branches against the spreading boughs of the Elms still bare, and silhouetted against the sky. To-day : — April I yth — the wild Cherry has looked white for the first time. We have two old trees happily placed near a 37 Blossoming group of Ilexes, but it is difficult to say if they are really more Trees and beautiful against dark foliage than with deciduous trees in their Shrubs Spring dress as a background. A Hornbeam close by is a mist of exquisite pale green, sweeping down to the greener grass and melting into the sky. The Hawthorns are in emerald leaf at the edge of the wood, and form a beautiful contrast with the rose-purples and browns of the Elms, Oaks, and Beeches. Almond and purple-leaved Prunus (Pissardii] are charming together. Unfortunately our Almond trees are still small, and the Prunus with us seems a shy flowerer. I am full of envy of their beauty in the Villa gardens on the outskirts of the town where they are white to their very tips ; graceful long boughs with an upward growth seen in bold relief against the sky, and great sprays of pink Almond sweeping across them. It is annoying of them not to flower in the same way here where they could have sky and wood as background, and no new red houses to strike a discordant note. Forsytbia suspensa, with its curved growth and rings of yellow blossom set all down the long flowery stems, is one of the loveliest shrubs. Daffodils in the grass with Forsytbia above them, repeating the yellow in a more delicate tone, make a pretty picture. If space allows a large group of these should be planted in a sunny spot. The graceful pendulous branches fall to the ground and will sometimes root themselves. It is excellent too for training up a house, and will convert a very large extent of wall into a sheet of yellow. Any pruning that is necessary should be done directly the plant has done flowering, but if the situation admits, it is prettier if allowed to grow naturally. Cuttings strike very easily. Kerria japonica is another hardy shrub of great beauty 38 X h O 0 ffi C/3 with yellow flowers, the single kind is not very often seen but April. is charming and remains much longer in flower. Blossoming Ribes, both cream and red, are out, and look particularly Shrubs and well together if planted against Hollies or any dark evergreens, but Anemones they are not so attractive as many of the more delicately coloured blossoms, and might be grown in some rather secluded corner. By the third week in April many less common shrubs can be seen in beauty at Kew. Amelanchier canadensis is a shower of white and looks lovely falling on to its bed of Stella Narcissus. Close by there are clumps of pink and bright red Prunus, most effective and lovely in colour either against the Ilex or the bare Elms. Prunus triloba flore-pleno is out too, making bushes about five feet high, a little too regular in form, but very lovely with the long sprays of pale double pink blossoms. Magnolia stellata is a glistening mass of white stars. With us it does not grow freely, but in warm light soils it will make a bush four or five feet across and as many in height. Anemone pulsatllla looks lovely below it — the tufts of silvery- haired Lilac flowers, with golden centres, thrown up by the white of the Magnolia ; the creeping dark purple Ox alls makes a pretty carpet round the Anemone, and there should be clumps of white Fritillary as its exquisite bells are open at the same time. This Anemone is perfectly hardy, and can be increased by seed or division. It likes a well-drained position and rather calcareous soil. Anemone sylvestris is another useful variety for growing under or round bushes ; it is said to like moisture and shade, and plenty of room for its creeping roots, but it is a plant with whims and sometimes does well in sun. It became quite a weed with us in a Rose bed, but refused to grow at all when moved to what was supposed to be a more suitable position. 39 Berberis Many sorts of Berberis are gay now and worth planting in and prominent positions : B. Stenophylla most graceful and showy Magnolia w^ l°nS sprays of fine green and hanging orange-yellow flowers; B. Nepalensis with a very handsome foliage and upright spikes of bloom, and B. Darwinii making a fine dark evergreen bush covered in April with hundreds of orange flowers ; B. Vulgar -is , and many others. B. Wallichiana and *Ibunbcrgi, as they turn to many shades of red, are even more beautiful in the Autumn than in the Spring. Magnolia conspicua should now be a wonder of shining white, cup-shaped flowers. The one illustrated is growing in a very sheltered garden at Saltwood. In sunshine when the flowers are wide open the effect is dazzling, but the sketch unfortunately had to be done on a grey cold day when it was not looking its best. The grass underneath was sprinkled with yellow Jonquils, and close by, Camellia trees were in splendid condition, their glossy foliage covered with red and white blossoms, but they were a month behind their usual flowering time. Even these very fine specimens are not attractive to me, they are a little too stiff in form and spotty in effect. Much prettier is a mauve Azalea, sweet-scented and very useful at this time of year, but looking fragile as if a storm of rain would destroy it. Spiraa Ihumbergii looks well near by, with its masses of tiny white flowers in graceful sprays. This month, which opened with Daffodils, sees them at their very best towards the close ; only the earliest are over, while the latest are in bud and Pheasant-eye Narcissus have begun. A sight of them at Kew made me long more than ever to plant them by the thousand in their separate varieties. The hill by the pond, which earlier in the year seemed all Crocus, is 40 O X o now all Daffodil and Narcissus. Under some of the big trees, April, where the grass grows thin, Anemone Apennina is flowering well Spring" with Pheasant-eye. Though not so fine as A. Elan da, it is certainly Effects worth growing, as it only begins when Blanda has been out two months or more and is at last on the wane. In the wilder parts of the garden are the most beautiful effects — wide grass glades wander between great irregular clumps of white Narcissus and in the Queen's Cottage Garden, Emperor Daffodil is a marvel growing tall and strong under the big trees, and showing from a distance as great stretches of yellow between the stems. Round the cottage itself Jonquils flourish in the grass, scenting the air. A few days later near Harrow I saw yet another effect. The garden lies on the top of a hill with a gorgeous view, and extends into a wood on three sides ; Daffodils are every- where— out in the open, on either side of the sloping lawn, are plantations of rare kinds, and stretching back under the trees the commoner ones. My sketch was made in a dell in the very heart of the wood when the Beeches were just bursting into tender green. The very light effect is given by Duchess of Brabant, last year's fallen leaves with their rich browns making a pretty setting. Those named in the following list all thrive in this wood, but all common kinds and many of the new lovely ones will do equally well in any average soil under deciduous trees if not planted too near to the roots. A lovely companion for them is Anemone Robins onia, of a soft grey-blue colour. Tenby Barrl consplcuus Emperor Empress Sir Watkin Mrs Langtry Golden Spur W. J. Berkeley Katherine Spurrell Madame de Graaf F 41 Iris, Tulip Most of these are inexpensive, running from 45. to 155. a hundred, and The last three are considerably dearer, and Madame de Graaf, Primula though cheap compared to what it was a few years ago, is still 2s. 9d. each bulb. Two or three little plants must be mentioned among the April treasures as givers of most delicate colour effect. — Iris tuberosdy the green and black velvety one, which it is such a pleasure to find wild on the Italian Riviera, and Tulip a clusiana (the Lady Tulip), white with a purple eye and a rose streak up the outside of each narrow petal. They always flower together with us, and both prefer a sheltered corner. Dentaria pinnata, with heads of almost a dozen cruciform flowers and bright green palmate leaves, I have longed to establish here since seeing it grow on Monte Generoso. The outskirts of the woods were white with it, and it had spread to the grass slopes near by, mixing with the Pheasant-eye Narcissus and the big blue Gentian. It can be grown from seed and increased by division, and likes a light soil and a moist place. Some of the many lovely Primulas should be established in shady places. P. Denticulata^ with a round, blue-lilac head, and P. Casbmeriana^ rather deeper in colour and stronger in growth, like a rich moist soil, and are delightful when they have formed large tufts. P. Sieboldi is another most useful sort and quite hardy. It varies in colour a good deal, and wants a well- drained position and plenty of leaf mould. If Cowslips are not indigenous they should be started in the fields, so that their sweet-scented flowers can be enjoyed when Primroses are over. With small trouble, and in about a year's time, an effect could be obtained such as Coventry Patmore so vividly describes : — 42 DAFFODILS. THE HOLT, HARROW, WEALD. " Meadows of fervid green, April. With sometime sudden prospect of untold Cowslips, like chance-found gold ; And broadcast buttercups at joyful gaze Rending the air with praise." 43 MAY "... Green flame the hedgerows. Pageants of colour and fragrance Pass the sweet meadows, and viewless Walks the mild spirit of May, Visibly blessing the world." — Henley. " And earth unto her leaflet tips Tingles with the spring." — William Watson. Late Tulips A ft AY is above all things the month of Tulips. Many of and their I V I the early-bedding kinds flower in April, but they are uses still in beauty the first week of May, and then open the much more lovely late-flowering varieties — Cottage, Darwin, Bybloemens, Bizarres, Roses, etc. These have many great advantages over the early ones — graceful foliage and long stalks holding their big cups two feet or more from the ground. They can be treated as perennials and left alone for several years, or they can be used as bedders, above all in formal Dutch gardens, and be lifted and dried when they have done flowering. In borders they should be planted deep enough to allow of annuals or low-growing permanent plants being put in above them, and they are often invaluable for strengthening the colour one wishes to predominate in a particular spot. The group of flowering shrubs — Solatium crispum and Cytlsus — in the sketch made at Tregothnan was completed in an attractive way by the clump of yellow Tulips. Wonderful colour effects 44 CYTISUS. SOLANUM. TULIP. TREGOTHNA.V, CORNWALL. can be arranged with them, tones which harmonise or vivid May. contrasts. There is a large colour key to be played on — pink- Colour of mauves to rich brown and red purples, and almost black : lilacs Tulips which are called blue, they have so much more blue than red in them : white, palest lemon to clear bright yellow and orange : soft rose-pinks or full deep reds, magenta, crimson, salmon, and flaming orange-vermilion : and then beside all these self-coloured ones are all the marvellous combinations in a single flower. What can be more remarkable than Zomerschoon yellow splashed with salmon-red, or more vivid than Greigei^ or more lovely than Rose Pompon, semi-double lemon shaded to pink at the tips of the petals ? The names to be mentioned with honour are almost endless, and a sight of the bunches exhibited at the May Horticultural Show fills the gardener with envy. I am told that most of these many and lovely varieties were originally started in Holland, sold by the raiser to English growers and kept as much as possible out of the hands of the neighbour- ing Dutch gardeners for mercantile reasons ; certainly many kinds exhibited here are not to be found in the best Dutch catalogues, an extra reason for supporting the home industry and buying in England or Ireland. It is often said that May, when Spring is over and Summer not yet fully come, is rather a poor month for flowers, but a few shillings expended on these late Tulips will fill the garden with beauty. Although new sorts are expensive, some indeed almost prohibitive in price owing to the stock being still so small, many old ones are extraordinarily cheap and can be got from 2s. to i os. or I2s. a hundred. To ensure yellow in the garden when the Daffodils have faded, plant — 45 Varieties of Bouton d'Or — a round, clear yellow flower shown up by May Tulips black stamens, but not very large. Golden Eagle — slightly fragrant, with pointed petals. Golden Crown — pointed in form, opens yellow — petals then take a red edge, gradually becoming suffused with a brown-orange. We have a long border of these Tulips with clumps of yellow Wallflowers between and purple Pansies below ; only a light railing divides it from a field, and when that is full of Butter- cups the effect is most beautiful. Other good varieties are : — Parisian Yellow. Retroflexa — with curved back petals looking more like a Lily than a Tulip. Yellow Rose — double and very full rich colour. Magnificent if only its stalk were firmer ; but it needs a carpet of some low-growing plant to lay its head on. Flava. Vltellina — pale lemon. Gesnertana lutea. Mrs Moon. These last four are comparatively expensive. For pinks grow — Shandon Bells — (syn. Isabella) Lemon yellow splashed with rose colour, getting rosier with age ; it is quite lovely but shorter and stiffer in growth than many of the others. Picotee — palest lemon with pointed petals, turned back tips and a scarlet edge which gradually suffuses the whole flower. Rose Pompon — semi-double, primrose and pink in May. flushes. Very tall and large flower. Tulip Gesneriana rosea^ with a deep blue base. Effects Rosalind, with a white base. Sweet Nancy ) • i • i j Tr. . r J f. both white with a pink edge. virginalis j For dearer ones — Zomerschoon. May queen. Mabel. Loveliness, etc. When after some years the yellow Tulips had to be taken up and divided, the same border was planted with Picotee, Shandon Bells and Rose Pompon, but, lovely as these were, the whole effect was not so good as before. The sea of Buttercups behind had to be taken into account, and we have gone back to the simple yellow arrangement, and are trying the pinks on either side of a straight grass walk leading to the wood through a youthful avenue of Pryus Mains floribunda and P. M. spectabills. These are two of the loveliest of pink blossoming trees and quite unlike each other. The first makes a shower of pink and white, the tips of the boughs soft red with buds ; the second is upright in growth with much larger semi-double pale pink flowers. The Tulips are planted in large clumps but the trouble is that the grass has to be cleared right away as they would never pierce it, and though they look very gay, just topping the waving grass, the delightfully wild effect of the Daffodils can never be attained. For reds we have an old-fashioned Tulip splashed with orange which makes a long border under the shade of the Elms, 47 Tulip gorgeous for a week or two, especially when they last till the Effects and purple Flags are out. Other good sorts are : — Colour Gesneriana major or spathulata — the largest of all the Tulips, with dazzling scarlet petals and a deep blue base. Massed together they are magnificent and are well worth growing in quantities. Elegans — scarlet pointed petals and reflexed. Elegans alba, similar in form but white with narrow carmine edge, most exquisite. Gesneriana aurantiaca maculata, red-orange with a dark -brown base. Lion d' Orange. La Merveille, orange and red. Two useful white Tulips are : — Dame Blanche. La Candeur, double. For mauve and purple, grow Blue Flag and the many toned Darwin Tulips. All sorts of queer soft shades of mauve and lilac and purple not seen in other flowers are to be found in these besides the exquisite pinks and cherry-reds of such kinds as Margaret, Clara Butt, and Salmon King. We have a pretty border of Darwins with a Pansy called Coquette de Poissy which makes a beautiful carpet for them, being of the same odd pink-mauve as the Tulips. Then there are still to be mentioned the Parrot Tulips with strange torn petals and most brilliant colouring, but inclined to weak stalks and drooping heads : the Bizarres, various shades of red with yellow and orange flakes ; the Bybloemens, white with flakings of lilac and purple ; the Roses with flakings of rose and red on a white ground, and such little treasures as T. Sylvestris, J LJ H C/l D U ^ — i c