My Garden in Spring 



Hera, Charon, and Isis were very beautiful this May after 

 two years in the sand, and Gladiolus atroviolaceus, a dainty 

 Spring-flowering species of lovely amethyst colouring, 

 shares their bed and seems to enjoy the same treatment. 



I think more could be made of this layered mixture of 

 sand and manure for voracious but easily-rotted plants. 

 I am now trying a few of the Oncocyclus species here, and 

 in this, their first year, we rejoiced in fine blooms of 

 susiana, &c., but I can hardly hope to solve the difficulty 

 of their cultivation so easily. 



Of course Irises are to be found in other parts of the 

 garden, but these beds are so well suited for those that 

 love drought and heat, such as the Bearded Flags, that 

 they contain the main collection, and those that prefer a 

 cooler root-run find it elsewhere. /. longipetala and its 

 near relations, for instance, are planted among herbaceous 

 plants, and are very useful for flowering in late May, and 

 good for cutting. The Crocus frame has been found to 

 be the only satisfactory home for /. Sisyrinchium, the 

 most widely distributed species of the whole family. I 

 have collected it in Egypt, where it is so abundant on the 

 lower flats of desert round Cairo that it colours the land- 

 scape with a purple haze for miles from noon to teatime, 

 just while the fugacious flowers are open. It has been 

 said that it is the flower a business man never sees, except 

 on Sundays and Whit Monday, for when brought to 

 England it still adheres to its hours of opening and closing 

 as punctually as a public-house. The little flowers are 

 very lovely when you do see them, and so many are pro- 

 duced on one scape that a good succession is kept up. I 

 found some charming white-flowered ones in the desert, 

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