SPRING. 55 



and hyacintlis, between them they seem- to form a perfect 

 hedge of mingled scarlet and gold round every bed, of 

 which the effect may really be termed gorgeous. There 

 are, of course, within the beds a few May flowers to com- 

 bine with them ; and I consider this the most brilliant 

 time. As these fade, all the June fibrous rooted plants, 

 beginning with early blue lupines, double-purple and 

 double-white rockets, peach-leaved campanulas, (blue and 

 white, double and single,) with small purple Siberian lark- 

 spurs, scarlet lychnis, and all those beautiful, but now 

 much-neglected " border flowers," come into beauty ; then 

 roses of all colours, white lilies, &c., with annuals or stocks 

 planted or sown near the edges, so as to grow over the 

 vacant space left by the bulbous root-borders ; then the 

 autumnal low-growing phloxes, lobelias, and, even in the 

 more distant beds, dahlias, with annuals and hardy calceo- 

 larias, last till the frost sets in ; and one feels that neat- 

 ness is now all that can be sought for till spring restores 

 gaiety and beauty once more." 



At the end of March, primroses, red, white, and yellow, 

 come in as successors to crocuses and snowdrops. April 

 and May bring daffodils, narcissus, early heath, jonquils, 

 wall-flowers, cowslips, and polyanthus, — all common, but 

 all sweet, all suggestive of spring, all fit for nosegays, 

 and readily gathered ; contrasting pleasantly in tliis with 

 the tiny, low - growing flowers they have succeeded, — 

 to gather which required both time and patience, and 

 sometimes left the fingers half-frozen. These short- 

 stemmed flowers, which can scarcely be put into water. 



