My Garden in Spring 



from cold snaps. E. rubrum, with crimson and yellow 

 flowers and beautifully mottled red and raw-sienna leaves, 

 is my next favourite, and a pale yellow- flowered form 

 with somewhat similar colouring in the young leaves is 

 better than the pale and small form of pinnatum whose 

 flowers are a pretty sulphur yellow, but takes no pains 

 with the painting of its leaves. E. macranthum has lilac 

 flowers with four long horns like those of a snail in 

 shape, and is supposed to be closely related to the 

 lilac and snow-white forms that are known by many 

 catalogue names, but are all lovely and not quite so 

 easy to grow as the yellow and red-flowered species. 

 Our British E. alpinum has the dullest flowers, but I 

 consider the most effective leaves of all, especially for 

 forming a carpet among shrubs. An occasional treat in 

 the way of a mulch of leaf mould will keep these Barren- 

 worts happy for years in many an overhung corner that 

 would be hard to furnish pleasantly with other plants. 



We have almost completed our Spring tour of the rock 

 garden; the only portions that remain to be explored are the 

 path between the oldest bank and the top of the triangle, 

 and the moraines. This path we have now reached by 

 descending the steps and passing the Epimediums. It is 

 wide, and many things sow themselves in it that I like to 

 see there, so please do not tread on Er odium romanum's 

 rosettes of ferny leaves and slender stems of dainty rosy 

 flowers just now commencing to open, for if you do not 

 crush them they will continue blooming all through the 

 season. It grows wild on the walls of the Coliseum at 

 Rome, and my plants are descendants of some brought 

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