THE DAWN OF SPRING 



year from seed, but plants can be bought cheaply. The March 

 Bergamot (Monarda Didyma) has crimson, tasselly, I-^S 

 perfumed flowers, and is an old favourite. Plants of 

 it cost very little. Montbretias are free and graceful. 

 There is also a red Delphinium — a dwarfish plant which 

 has been rather overshadowed by its tall, blue sisters, 

 that are now so much petted by hardy plantsmen. Its 

 name is Nudicaule, and it can be flowered from seed 

 sown early under glass, or bought as plants. The 

 Poppies, both annual and perennial, are glorious. The 

 great Papaver Orientale and its varieties are among the 

 brighest of the latter class, and when their bloom is 

 over, it is succeeded by that of the annuals, sown in 

 April or May, and rigorously thinned by stages until 

 the plants stand a full eighteen inches apart. Be sure, 

 however, to choose double annual Poppies ; the singles 

 are very brilliant, but they are soon over. Dwarf 

 scarlet Nasturtiums, sown where they bloom, will come 

 in admirably for the front. 



Our next group, white, will give us no more trouble ; 

 or, to put it in a better and truer way, not less pleasur- 

 able work. We have a splendid plant in the fine Ox- 

 eye Daisy, Chrysanthemum Maximum King Edward 

 VII., which we can buy cheaply, and we shall find will 

 soon establish itself securely. Behind it we may set, 

 if we like, white Hollyhocks. We must remember the 

 white Phloxes, such as the splendid variety Tapis Blanc, 

 and we must certainly also recall the white Canterbury 

 Bell, procurable as seedling plants in spring, or to be 

 raised by sowing out of doors in June. It is branching 

 and free-flowered to a degree when thinly grown from 

 the first, and will be perpetual if the fading flowers are 

 picked off. The white Rose Mallow (Lavatera Alba) is 

 somewhat less compact than the Canterbury Bell; in 

 113 H 



