SPECIAL METHODS OF PLANTING 85 



clay lining the bottom of a depression and filling in 

 with suitable soil. It is surprising what a host of small 

 plants I have accommodated in these places ; in the 

 Springtime one never seems to know what charming 

 little acquaintance may be coming through the soil 

 next. At the earliest dawn of Spring come a few 

 Snowdrops, followed almost immediately by some 

 Muscari, before these are well out Primula denticulata 

 begins to open its cauliflower-like buds, in which 

 the flower trusses have lain so snugly packed through 

 the Winter. 



Erythroniums, or Dog's Tooth Violets too are here, 

 and the Wood Anemone, A. nemorosa, and its many 

 varieties including that beautiful pale blue form A. 

 Robinsoniana, while a little later Primula rosea opens its 

 lovely carmine flowers, coming through either a 

 carpet of Cotula squalida, or C. accencefolia (which 

 by the way must be well looked after, or it will swamp 

 everything) or Arenaria balearica and A. ccespitosa. 

 Here also in full sun, though always moist, trails the 

 ruddy branches of the sweet little twin flower Linncea 

 borealis, and its larger form americana, which in their 

 season bear their quaint pink flowers. 



As the year advances, P. involucrata, from the 

 Himalayas, gives me its white flowers flushed with 

 lilac, and the larger counterpart of P. farinosa, known 

 as P. frondosa. 



