THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



TULIfA. 



757 



veined in various colours, and are 

 valuable for their bright display. 



Tulips are easily grown in the rich 

 soil of old gardens, but where the land 

 is cold and stiff or not well worked 

 they have a tendency to die out. 

 They may be planted from October to 

 the middle of November, and the old 

 Tulip growers used to put a little 

 sand at the base of each bulb, but 

 this is not essential. It is well to lift 

 the bulbs every two or three years, or 

 they become crowded and give small 

 flowers. When the old flower - stems 

 are turning yellow the bulbs may be 

 taken up, dried, and stored till planting 

 time or replanted at once if convenient, 

 as nothing is gained by keeping them 

 out of the ground. Most kinds in- 

 crease by offsets, but some species 

 rarely or never increase in this way, 

 and recourse must be had to seed, 

 sown when ripe to germinate the follow- 

 ing spring, but the bulbs do not 

 attain their full size for six or seven 

 years. 



Among the wild Tulips there are 

 beautiful kinds distinct from the 

 garden varieties ; the larger kinds, 

 noble flowers for free planting, and the 

 smaller sorts gems of beauty for the 

 rock garden or in beds and borders 

 of choice bulbs. 



T. ACUMINATA. Curious, but its petals 

 are too long and thin to create a display. 



T. ALBERTI. Rather low-growing, with 

 undulated leaves of a glaucous green 

 colour trailing on the ground ; the flowers 

 red, somewhat resembling those of T. 

 Greigi in shape, but the petals are marked 

 at the base with a blotch of yellow mar- 

 gined with black. Turkestan. 



T. AUSTRALIS. Variable in colour, but 

 always pleasing, allied to T. sylvestris but 

 less robust, whilst the flower is more 

 funnel-shaped and flushed on the outside 

 with red. Syn., T. Celsiana. 



T. BATALINI. A small kind seldom 

 exceeding 4 inches in height, with trailing 

 leaves and rather large flowers (nearly 

 3 inches in length) of a pale yellow colour. 



T. BIFLORA. A species known long ago, 

 and not very striking with its small pale 

 yellow flowers, which, however, are borne 

 in a cluster of three or four at the top of 

 the flower-stem instead of being solitary, 

 as in most other Tulips. Caucasus. 



T. CLUSIANA. The dainty Lady Tulip 

 came from the Mediterranean region as 

 long ago as 1636, has small flowers, and 

 is not more than i foot or so in height. 

 The flowers are white, with a flush of 

 rose on the outer surface, and purplish- 

 black at the base. T. stellata is a near 

 ally. It requires a deep vegetable soil 

 and warm sheltered position. 



T. CONCINNA. A dainty late-flowering 

 species from Cilicia, with rich red flowers 

 2 inches across, marked with bold black 

 spots outlined in yellow, at the base of 

 each segment. 



T. DASYTEMON. A fine new species, 

 very distinct in habit and flower. In 

 height it grows about 6 inches, with from 

 four to seven flowers on a stem ; in colour 

 these are yellow edged white. 



T. DIDIERI. May flowering kind from 

 the Alps, grows tall, and has large bright 

 red flowers with black blotches inside 

 at the base. A yellow variety named 

 Billetiana is equally handsome. 



T. EICHLERI. Is another fine species 

 with large leaves and broad flowers of an 

 intense scarlet-red colour, the petals 

 roundish in shape, having at the base a 

 black blotch margined with yellow. 

 Georgia. 



T. ELEGANS. Graceful bright-coloured 

 kind, opens late in April, the flowers bright 

 red with yellow eye, the petals long, 

 tapering to a point. 



T. FLAVA. With bright yellow petals, 

 rather spoiled by a bar of green down the 

 centre ; its flowers, however, continue 

 quite a fortnight after those of all other 

 Tulips are past. 



T. GALATICA. -A dwarf Tulip, rarely 

 reaching 9 inches high, and quite unlike 

 other kinds in its very broad leaves and 

 large cone-shaped flowers of pale yellow, 

 flaked with green at the base on the inside, 

 and touched with olive-green on the out- 

 side of each petal. 



T. GESNERIANA. This is the noblest of 

 all Tulips, the parent of the large late- 

 flowering race, and should be in every 

 garden, planted in bold groups or broad 

 masses. In Sussex I have seen charming 

 effects secured by planting in quantity. 

 In another instance the bulbs had been 

 planted in a solid, but irregular line, on 

 a dry, warm hedge-bank of turfy loam, and 

 just through and above the great crimson 

 blooms the common Quince had thrust 

 its soft leafy branches, thickly set with 

 small white or delicate rose-flushed 

 flowers. It has an immense bright-red 

 flower borne on a tall stem, sweetly 

 scented, with a black zone inside at the 

 base. The flowers last admirably when 

 cut, and by artificial light they open as 

 widely as by day. The finest form is that 

 called spathulata. E. Europe and Asia. 

 The so-called " Darwin " Tulips are self- 

 coloured forms of this species. 



T. GREIGI. Introduced about the year 

 1871, it has not yet received all the atten- 

 tion it deserves. It is low-growing, the 

 flower-stem seldom exceeding 8 inches in 

 height, the leaves marked with purplish 

 blotches and the large-sized flowers from 

 over 3 to nearly 4 inches in length, of 

 a dazzling vermilion-red colour faintly 

 marked at the base with a dark spot. It 

 is hardy, comes into flower about the 



