178 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



dent Grevy, Emile Lemoine, and Azurea. Two varieties of Dar- 

 wins, Clara Butt, a fine lavender pink, and the Reverend H. 

 Ewbank, a capital greyish lavender, are exceptionally good in 

 masses below lilacs, though Phillis, a charming pale lilac Darwin, 

 would also be welcome here, and nothing could serve better as a 

 substitute for Clara Butt than Gesneriana lutea, if a lemon yellow 

 and lavender effect were preferred to the pink and lavender. With 

 the latter, I have always liked to see Dicentra spectabilis, its 

 loose arches of bloom tone in so remarkably with Clara Butt, the 

 pink Darwin. A lovely thing too, before these tulips as they 

 bloom is the taller blue myosotis in one or two places. The 

 contrast of form and of color too, is equally delightful. 



May I mention also a nice planting which gives not only a 

 succession of spring bloom but a pretty color combination, and 

 this on a clay bank, where the spoiled darlings of the formal 

 garden might pine and die. Rosa Wichuraiana, one parent of all 

 the rambler tribe, covers this spot. In May, when leaf buds ar 

 showing along its thorny stems, up comes in irregular colonies, 

 the beautiful tulip Couleur Cardinal; nearby the heavy pale 

 lavender heads of hyacinth Holbein afford a perfect companion 

 tone for the outer color of the petals of Couleur Cardinal, which 

 bear a rich plum-like bloom as impossible to describe as the hue 

 of the perfectly ripened peach. Beyond these tulips stand groups 

 of the fine double narcissus Orange Phoenix, its effect more 

 cream-white than orange, completing a richly soft, spring picture. 



I can hardly leave the May beauty of the border without men- 

 tioning the sheets of Munstead primrose, which make the month 

 so longed-for and so lovely, with drifts of tulip White Swan 

 among them. A stream or two of tulip Chrysolora, with masses of 

 narcissus Barri Flora Wilson beyond, tall lemon colored fritil- 

 laries near the narcissus, and glimpses of Arabis alpina still farther 

 away. All this on the south slope of a small mound planted to 

 white pine; silvery leaf buds of Carolina poplar hanging above it. 

 I speak in large terms with such words as masses and drifts; 

 perhaps I should say here that all these are in reality miniature 

 plantings; that we are land owners only to the extent of two acres 

 and a quarter; that all bulbs are in or near shrub borders; and 

 that perennial and animal flowers are kept with one or two excep- 



