THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



TULIPA. 



8 47 



may be planted from October to the 

 middle of November, and the old Tulip 

 growers used to put a little sand at the 

 base of each bulb, but this is not essen- 

 tial. It is well to lift the bulbs every two 

 or three years, or they become too 

 crowded and give small flowers. When 

 the old flower stems are turning yellow, 

 the bulbs may be taken up, dried, and 

 stored till planting time or replanted at 

 once if convenient, as nothing is gained 

 by keeping them out of the ground a long 



gated form, Aubretias, Hepaticas, Prim- 

 roses, Cowslips, Silene pendula, Pansies 

 and Violets, Saxifrages, Iberis corifolia, 

 Ajuga reptans rubra, and many others 

 make excellent carpets. 



Among the wild Tulips there are beau- 

 tiful kinds distinct from the garden 

 varieties ; the larger kinds, noble flowers 

 for free planting, and the smaller sorts 

 gems of bright beauty for nooks in the 

 rock-garden or in beds and borders of 

 choice bulbs. 



Old garden Tulips. 



time. They can be increased by means 

 of their little offsets. Some species rarely 

 or never increase in this way, and re- 

 course must be had to sowing seed, which 

 if sown when ripe germinates the follow- 

 ing spring, but the bulbs do not attain 

 their full size for six or seven years. Beds 

 of Tulips may be carpeted with small 

 tufted or creeping plants, and there are 

 many hardy flowering and pretty leaved 

 plants suited for the purpose. The White 

 Rock Cress (Arabis albida) and its varie- 



T. ACUxMlNATA is curious, but its petals 

 too long and thin to create a display. 



T. ALBERTI, from Turkestan, is rather 

 i low-growing, with undulated leaves of a 

 glaucous green colour trailing on the 

 ground ; the flowers red, somewhat re- 

 sembling those of T. Greigi in shape, but 

 the petals are marked at the base with a 

 blotch of yellow margined with black. 



T. AUSTRALIS is variable in colour, but 

 always pleasing, allied to T. sylvestris, 

 not, however, so robust in habit, whilst the 



