62 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



The best of the cottage tuhps are Bouton d'Or, beautiful yellow, 

 like a large buttercup; Elegans; fulgens; Gesneriana and its varie- 

 ties; Shandon Bells; Parisian yellow, one of the finest late yellow; 

 Picotee, white with narrow margin of pink; and Ingelscombe, 

 scarlet. 



There is a large number of species of tulips and some of them 

 are amongst the finest of all the tulips. Tulipa Greigi is the queen 

 of all tulips, the flowers are large and of scarlet-orange color; 

 Fosteriana is grand; linifolia is a beauty; Sprengeri is the latest 

 tulip of all, it blooms in the beginning of June. 



If tulips are used in beds they ought to have a carpet of some 

 low plant, such as pansies, forgetmenots, English daisies, Silene 

 pendula, or some of the violets. 



Hyacinths are not as popular as they used to be. They are 

 stiff and ungraceful and they only last for a very short time. Yet 

 after all when they are in bloom they have charming colors. 



English primroses are especially useful in the spring garden and 

 always have a charm for lovers of early flowering plants. Primula 

 denticulata is a lovely plant when grown in masses and is perfectly 

 hardy. Viola cornuta has a beautiful blue flower and when 

 planted in large masses makes a striking effect; there is a fine 

 white variety of this plant. Aster alpinus, although only a few 

 inches high, has the largest flowers of any aster that we grow. 

 It is a superb plant for the front row of the border or on elevated 

 positions in the rock garden. One of the most graceful plants 

 we have in spring is Dicentra spectabilis or bleeding heart. Col- 

 umbines are charming and are pleasing in any kind of position. 

 The Rocky Mountain variety, Aquilegia caerulea, is one of the 

 best; chrysantha, glandulosa, and Stuarti are excellent kinds; 

 and the new hybrids are very showy. Stellaria Holostea spreads 

 rapidly and makes showy mats of white in the front of the border. 

 Another useful plant which gives fine touches of blue to the front 

 of the border is Veronica rupestris. Saxifraga cordifolia and 

 S. crassifolia are bold plants with large flowers. These are only a 

 few of the many good plants that bloom in the spring; there are 

 scores of others equally good but these will suffice to show that 

 there is no lack of material to make the spring garden showy and 

 interesting. 



