My Garden in Spring 



a little, until you are sure you are holding only the two 

 belonging to the bud ready to be gathered. Then a 

 sharp pull will generally bring it away, leaving the other 

 two buds to push up a week or ten days later. They 

 sometimes do this simultaneously, and as it is not difficult 

 to see whether the central bloom has been already 

 gathered, one can then allow oneself the luxury of picking 

 the whole stiff bunch of spathes and buds. 



If the nights are mild it is as well to leave the buds 

 on the plant until the perianth tube has lengthened 

 sufficiently to stand above the surrounding spathes. But 

 although the perianth segments when exposed just above 

 the spathes will safely stand several degrees of frost, I 

 find once the perianth tube is out in the world and un- 

 protected, a few degrees of frost will render it transparent 

 and limp, burst its cell walls in fact, and ruin that 

 blossom's future. 



So in doubtful weather I prefer to pull the buds when 

 the coloured parts of the flower appear just above the 

 spathes. I find it best to place them at once in water 

 and to immerse them up to their necks. Then they 

 lengthen rapidly, and one by one burst open and are 

 ready to transfer to the flower vases. If placed directly 

 after picking in water that only reaches an inch or so up 

 their length, they are rather inclined to flag and fall over, 

 and even to get too much exhausted of sap to open 

 properly. Their own foliage is rather too coarse to 

 arrange with them, so I often use the leaves of young 

 plants of Libertia formosa, which are of the same shade of 

 green but neater than the Iris leaves. They look best 

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