14 VARIETY IN THE LITTLE GARDEN 



It is called "May Tulips" and shows a little border of spring 

 flowers near a farmhouse in England. The foreground is a bit of 

 level ground through which runs a narrow brick walk, widening 

 into a square in one place — a square on which a sundial is 

 placed — and then going on a few feet to three steps up, made 

 necessary by a sudden rise of groimd. The walk is at a right 

 angle to the upward slope. The steps are built in a low stone 

 retaining-wall, about two feet high, which serves two purposes 

 — it keeps the earth of the bank in place, and it makes a perfect 

 background for tulips. On either side of the steps at the top 

 are two round balls of stone, about a foot in diameter, which 

 give a decorative touch; the ground beyond runs gently up- 

 ward through an old orchard. Against this low wall is the gayest 

 imaginable spring bloom, growing in a border about two feet 

 wide just below the wall. A little knot of pink-and-white striped 

 tulips (Prosperity would be a lovely tulip here), with two or 

 three plants of pale yellow primroses below, stand to the right 

 of the steps. Beyond, farther to the right, are deep pink tulips, 

 perhaps Clara Butt, with forget-me-nots clothing the ground 

 below them, then more of the pink-and-white. To the left of 

 the steps the planting is repeated, though beyond the first 

 tulip-group of pink there is a little planting of parrot tulips, 

 those wild, torn-looking flowers that would be so much better 

 for one's use in gardens if they had stiffer stems. These are of 

 course red, yellow and green, yet their colors are made agreeable 

 here with the pinks by the clouds of yellow (of primrose) and 

 of sky-blue (of forget-me-nots), all below this line of tulips. 

 Just beyond the top of the wall a few low-growing things, such 

 as rock-cress (Arahis alpina) and the hardy yellow alyssum 

 {Alyssum saxatile) creep in low bright bloom, and the whole 

 makes as simple and lovely a garden picture as it is possible 

 to imagine. 



