My Garden in Spring 



commerce had very well-marked idiosyncrasies, not only 

 as to outward appearance but in period and freedom of 

 flowering. The paler flowered forms are those that flower 

 earliest and most surely in autumn. That known as 

 ntarginata is generally the first, and the white one and the 

 variety liladna often come in a dead heat for second place. 

 Pale colouring is correlated with early flowering, it seems, 

 and the varietal name liladna is fully justified, both it and 

 marginata bearing flowers of a softer and bluer shade than 

 any others ; marginata has a narrow but regular white 

 edge to the falls, not wide or distinct enough to add to the 

 beauty of the blossom, but sufficient to warrant the use of 

 the name, and both forms have wider leaves than the type, 

 and, what is better, larger flowers. I strongly advise any- 

 one wishing for autumn and early winter flowers to plant 

 these two forms along with the white one. Half a dozen 

 good plants of each ought to provide buds for picking in 

 constant succession through November, December, and 

 in open weather in January. It is curious that the white 

 form should flower with the pale lilac ones, as in appear- 

 ance it is evidently an albino of the type, having leaves of 

 medium width and flowers rather diminished in size, as is 

 so often the case with an albino form. 



I once heard of a larger, white form, but diligent 

 inquiry and an ever-open eye have failed to discover it. 

 I believe all the white flowered plants in cultivation in 

 Britain are divisions from a single plant found about 

 thirty-five years ago by Mr. Edwyn Arkwright when 

 riding through the then wild scrub on the hillside near 

 Algiers, but seedlings raised from it ought to show variation, 

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