Puschkinia kinia scilloides, or Hbanotica, and is said to be delicate and only 

 and Scilla to prosper in a warm sunny position with good drainage. With 

 sibirica us ** nas stood for years, without any care, in a border of the 

 kitchen garden, under a wall facing due east, and there flowers 

 well and increases. Opening a little later than the Chionodoxas, 

 it lasts till the white Fritillaries, neighbours by a happy accident, 

 overhang them with their tenderly chequered bells. Between 

 Puschkinia and Chionodoxa, in order of time, opens Scilla 

 sibirica, which is quite hardy, and is the bluest of all these 

 spring bulbs. Borders of it may be seen in some gardens, making 

 a long line of blue at the edge of a grass path, but its effect is 

 always prettier if white Crocuses or Hyacinths or some of the 

 early ivory Daffodils are growing near by. 



There are many shrubs round which Chionodoxas may be 

 grouped. At Kew they are planted largely under Forsythias, 

 but though the blue and pale yellow look pretty together, 

 the whole effect struck me as a little insipid, and as if some 

 touch of a deeper tone were needed. 



They are used there also as a groundwork for shrubs 

 which only flower much later, such as many of the Spiraeas, 

 and Prunus triloba. I like particularly to grow them under 

 white-flowering shrubs but the choice of these is limited 

 so early in the year. The Winter Honeysuckle, Lonicera 

 fragrantissima, which blooms for weeks about this time 

 would be suitable, and in a good spring is quite effective 

 with its numbers of small, creamy, sweetly scented flowers. 

 Very beautiful too at this season is Prunus divaricatus, like 

 a glorified Blackthorn, but flowering a month earlier, with 

 larger flowers and no thorns ; the graceful white sprays are 

 always lovely, drooping either over a green lawn, or over such 



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