io8 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



and charming in colour. The Kingcup or Marsh Marigold, so fine 

 in wet meadows and by the riverside, should be brought into gardens 

 wherever there is water, as it is a most effective 

 Columbine plant when well grown, and there are several 

 Marsh Marigold, forms, double and single. The Clematis, the 

 Clematis, and larger kinds, are mostly for the summer, but some 

 Globe-flower. (c. montana, C. alpina, C. cirrhosa) are at their 

 best in the spring ; they should be made abund- 

 ant use of on house walls and over banks, trees and shrubs. The 

 Winter Aconite (earliest of spring flowers) naturalises itself in some 

 soils, but on others dwindles and dies out, and it should not be grown 

 in the garden, but in shrubberies, copses, or woods where the soil 

 suits it. Some kinds of hardy Ranunculus, the herbaceous double 

 kinds, are good in colour, and in bold groups pretty; but taller 

 and bolder and finer in effect are the Globe-flowers, easily 

 naturalised in moist, grassy places or by water, and also free 

 and telling among stout herbaceous plants. The most distinct 

 addition to the spring garden of recent years is the Oriental 

 Hellebore in its many beautiful varieties. They are most effective, 

 sturdy, impressive plants for opening the flower year with, often 

 blooming abundantly at the dawn of spring, and have the essential 

 merit of not requiring annual culture, tufts remaining in vigour in 

 the same spot for many years. 



The European Dog's-tooth Violet is pretty in the budding grass, 



where it is free in growth and bloom. The Fritillary is one of the 



most welcome flowers for grass, and is best in 



Snowdrop, Snow- mol ' st meadows ; the rarer kinds do well in good 



flake, Crocuses, garden soil, those with pale yellow bells being 



Scilla, and beautiful. Every plant such as these, which we 



Fntillary. can so eas iiy g row a t home in grassy places, 



makes our cares about the spring garden so much 



the less, and allows of keeping all the precious beds of the flower 



garden itself for the plants that require some care and rich soil 



always. 



The Hyacinth, which is often set in such stiff masses in our public 

 gardens, gives prettier effects more naturally grouped, but it is not 

 nearly so important for the open air as many flowers more easy to 

 grow and better in effect, though some of the more slender wild 

 species, like H. amethystinus, are beautiful and deserve a good place. 

 The Snowdrop is of even greater value of late years owing to new 

 forms of it, some of which have been brought from Asia Minor 

 and others raised in gardens. In some soils it is quite free and 

 becomes easily naturalised, in others it dwindles away, and the same 

 is true of the vernal Snowflake (Leucojum vernum), a beautiful 



