THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



copsy places, and far more graceful and charming in such positions 

 than in set borders. All these water-loving Irises will do for the wild 

 garden in bold groups when we can spare them. 



Then there are the brilliant purple and gold Iris reticulata and its 

 allies, little bulbous Irises, for the spring garden, early and charming 

 things, many beautiful ; Irises that flower in winter and early spring, 

 like the Algerian Iris ; others happy in Britain on warm soils and 

 warm corners, and some for the rock garden, like the crested Iris ; and 

 the many pretty forms of Iris pumila, of some of which edgings were 

 made in old gardens. The foliage of the evergreen Iris is so graceful 

 and usually so nice in colour that artistic use may be made of it in 

 that way. The most novel of all the groups of Iris, however, are the 

 Cushion Irises, which promise much beauty, but are yet too little known 

 to see how far that beauty may be preserved in our gardens. The old 

 Iris Susiana has been known for many years, and some of its allies, 

 like I. Lorteti and the Wolf Iris, seem more hardy and not less 

 beautiful. 



Tulips. — The old garden Tulip, a favourite for generations, grown 

 in the so-called florist varieties, and the source once of severe mania, is 

 but one of a large number of wild Tulipa, many of which have come 

 to us of late years from Central Asia. The old Tulips are the forms 

 of an Italian species (T. Gesneriana), and these varieties are worthy of 

 all the attention they ever had ; but the wild form is as good as any of 

 its varieties for splendid effect, and a selection should be made of its 

 simpler colours, including a good white and yellow. The bedding 

 Tulips, which are earlier in blooming, are forms of T. scabriscapa, 

 though useful, are not nearly so valuable for their effect as the late 

 tulips. The new species coming from Central Asia and other lands 

 promise to be very valuable, too, for their effect, though our climate 

 may not suit all of them, as it does the fine hardy Gesneriana. The 

 colour of these tulips is too fine to be missed, and, as the bloom is too 

 short-lived to give beds under the windows to it, the best way is to 

 plant them in borders, and, when scarce, in the nursery ; when plenti- 

 ful in the wild garden. I put some in new hedgerow banks a few 

 years ago, and also the wood tulip in a meadow regularly mown, and 

 now have a splendid bloom every spring. As wild tulips abound in 

 the south of Europe travellers might often get many roots which 

 could be tried in this and other ways. Some of the bedding tulips 

 have very ugly slaty colours, and there is much waste in planting 

 them. The Dutch bulb raisers care more for variety than beauty of 

 colour, but the aim in our gardens should be to get more of the fine 

 simple colours, and the wild kinds planted so far as we may in effective 

 ways; a few trials in that way will show that it is a much more effective 

 one than setting out the plants in tile or other patterns. The later 



