Bulbs 



121 



In park work and public places, where it is imperative to get the very- 

 best results, it is the common practice to discard the tulips and hyacmths 

 after they have bloomed once. The amateur, however, may remove these 

 bulbs to a less conspicuous position, as the back yard, the hardy border, or 

 the wild garden, where they will continue to bloom year after year indefinitely. 

 It is now a mooted question, considering the price at which new and superior 

 bulbs can be purchased, whether or not it is worth while taking up hyacinth 

 and tulip bulbs and keeping them for a succeeding year. If it is to be done, 

 the time to do it is after they hav^e ceased flowering, when the leaves turn 

 yellow. Dig them then, place them m a sunny position, put enough soil 

 on to cover the bulbs, and when all vegetation has gone from them put 

 them away in a cool, well-ventilated place, until time to replant m the fall. 



Indiscriminate planting in the border is much easier than bedding, 

 and here the veriest tyro can hardly go wrong. Wherever there is room, put 

 in some bulbs, singly, in pairs, m 

 half-dozens and dozens ; the keenest 

 pleasure is derived m finding the 

 unexpected come up here and 

 there. This is the place to plant 

 bulbs for the purpose of cutting ; in 

 the design bed, cutting the flowers 

 will mar the effect of the whole, 

 but they are not missed from the 

 mixed border. This is the place 

 for jonquils, daffodils, all varieties 

 of narcissi, and yet they are thor- 

 oughly at home m large beds by 

 themselves. It is the place also to 

 put in clumps of the lovely lily- 

 of -the- valley, the stately iris, and 

 the massive peony which is often 

 considered by dealers as a bulbous 

 plant. Here they live and have 

 their being year after year, un- 

 disturbed by the vagaries of Dame 

 Fashion; for, even in matters of the garden, the fickle jade w411 interfere, and 

 the design which finds favour this year may be frowned upon the next. 



Trumpet daffodil (Horsfieldii) 



