154 'The Flower Garden [Chapter 



much resembles that of the date-palm, being ribbed 

 and pointed at either end. 



Summer-blooming Oxalis are very desirable plants 

 for borders. They are extensively grown in parks 

 and public gardens, but are little seen in private 

 grounds. They are the most easily raised of all the 

 bulbous plants and increase in a manner quite alarm- 

 ing, each bulb forming a long tuber resembling a 

 white radish in general appearance, and covered with 

 small bulbs probably fifty the top being crowned 

 with one large bulb, the source of the season's 

 florescence. These bulbs are not a solid body, as 

 would appear at first glance, but are made up of 

 hundreds of minute scales like a lily bulb. Added 

 to its interesting character below ground is its rather 

 remarkable performance above ground. It comes 

 into leaf and blossom two weeks after planting, 

 about the time the first tiny tips of other bulbs ap- 

 pear. 



One great advantage of this precocity of growth is 

 that Oxalis may be substituted when for any reason 

 other border plants have failed to come up and it is 

 necessary to replace them in a hurry. Often a hardy 

 border plant winter-kills and one keeps waiting for 

 it to start until it is too late to get plants from seed, 

 then the little Oxalis comes to the rescue. 



Buy them by the hundred and set about three inches 

 apart and about two inches deep. Take up in the 

 fall and put in a sunny place to dry, turning often; 



