My Garden in Spring 



A note from the Canon brought me to gaze and wonder 

 at their beauty. The doubling is interesting and of a two- 

 fold nature, for not only is there an increased number of 

 sepals, but the anthers are transformed into short petaloid 

 bodies set among the whorls of sepals, and are in some 

 forms deeper in colour than they, reminding one of the 

 doubling of a Narcissus such as Butter and Eggs, where 

 the pale perianth segments are repeated mingled with the 

 smaller and deeper-coloured sections of the corona. It 

 must by this time be quite apparent to my readers that 

 half of my choicest treasures are due to visits to Bitton 

 and the generosity of Canon Ellacombe, and they will not 

 be surprised to learn that both a pale and dark form of 

 this glorious miracle are now thriving in a bay of my 

 rock garden and annually remind me of his kindness. A. 

 appenina everybody should know it ranges from Italy to 

 Turkey ; but save a pure white form, one of Dr. Lowe's 

 many valued gifts to me, I have not seen any other that I 

 could think of as approaching blanda or an intermediate 

 between the two species. This white one is earlier than 

 any other appenina, and rather dwarfer too, and is a true 

 albino, with no trace of pale Prussian blue on the 

 backs of its sepals as there is in most white varieties of 

 appenina, and the leaves are of quite a yellow shade of 

 green. A rose-coloured form has been offered, but has 

 very little claim to the title. One clump that I bought as 

 var. rosea is tinged with pale lilac outside instead of the 

 Prussian blue of the common white ones. A lilac form 

 that originated with Messrs. Van Tubergen forms a pleasant 

 contrast, and is prettily irregular and starry in shape, but 

 the double form also sent out by them is a poor, thin thing 

 208 



