HARDY BULBS n 



ALSTRCEMERIAS 



There are few finer or more useful garden flowers 

 than the Alstroemerias, whose brilliant colours and un- 

 common forms are great attractions. As cut flowers 

 they are highly prized. They like a free root run, and 

 a rather light, rich soil. The tubers should be planted 

 in spring, nearly a foot deep, but they are easily raised 

 from seeds sown in gentle heat in spring. Several of 

 the species are too tender for outdoor cultivation every- 

 where, the hardiest being A. aurantiaca, which has yellow 

 flowers of varying shades. Chilensis and peruviana, or 

 versicolor, and psittacina of gardens (syn. pulchella), 

 are all fairly hardy, psittacina possessing a singular 

 combination of crimson and green colouring. A. pelegrina 

 and its variety alba are exceedingly beautiful, but require 

 frame treatment except in the south. Diazii, Ligtu, and 

 haemantha (syn. Simsii) are very beautiful and more or 

 less hardy according to the climate and soil. Some lime 

 rubbish is often useful mixed with the soil, together 

 with a little peat or leaf-mould. 



ANEMONES 



The tuberous-rooted Anemones, which alone come 

 under the scope of this work, form a section which 

 embraces flowers of surpassing beauty. Generally dwarf 

 in stature, these Windflowers give us much variety of 

 colouring, from the pure white of A. nemorosa to the 

 deep scarlet of A. fulgens, with the blues, purples, and 

 other tints of A. coronaria, and the bright yellow of 

 A. ranunculoides. Usually of easy cultivation, they are 

 among the choicest ornaments of our gardens. 



A. apennina, the Apennine Windflower, is a delightful 

 little plant, growing about six inches high and having 

 pretty blue flowers. There are white and rose-coloured 



