SPRING FLOWER BORDER 



among small conifers of formal habit. The true 

 place for daffodils, as we all know, is in spring 

 meadows; but tulips require a less careless han- 

 dling, and, while it is true that I have grown them 

 nearly always in loose groups and masses, I am 

 fast coming to the belief that the tulip, from its 

 own aspect, calls for design in planting. Do not 

 for a moment think that I favor the planting 

 suggestions for tulips found in some of the repre- 

 sentative bulb-hsts of America ! Far from it ! 



Iris Crusader is a magnificent flower. As 

 many as four blooms are open at one time, the 

 lowest a foot below the topmost; for these flowers 

 occur at four places, four angles on the stem. 

 The single flower is a glory, its prevailing tone 

 (Ridgway) a deep bluish-violet. There is some- 

 thing in the spring of the long curves of this 

 flower both in standard and fall which gives it a 

 unique beauty. The brownish penciUing at the 

 top of each fall, the orange-yellow beard which 

 surmounts those charming tones of blue-violet 

 which suffuse the whole, make it a distinguished 

 flower. It is a knight among irises; and, bloom 

 occurring just before the pallida section, it seems 

 to herald a company of nobles of the garden. No 

 flower could bear a fitter name than does this iris; 

 139 



