50 MY GARDEN 



gleaming white, and the pretty striped sorts like Madam 

 Mina. There are many fine sorts, but President Lin- 

 coln, a rich purple of fine vaselike form, is my favourite. 

 Crocuses love a nice sandy loam and are planted in Sep- 

 tember and October about three inches deep. They 

 may be left to themselves until they show, by falling off 

 in their bloom, that they are overcrowded, when they 

 may be dug up and given more room. 



Three dainty blue-flowered bulbs belong to the early 

 spring: Chionodoxa, Muscari, and Scilla. TheChiono- 

 doxas bloom first with me C. Luciliae and sardensis 

 the first, bright sky blue with a clear white centre; the 

 second, of that rare Gentian blue so seldom seen in 

 flowers. Both are but a few inches high, and are pretty 

 planted in spreading patches about the drifts of snowy 

 Arabis in bloom at the same time. The common Grape 

 Hyacinth, Muscari botryoides, with its pretty beaded 

 blue flower spikes, is well known to most of us, and also 

 the refined white variety. But there are others too 

 lovely not to be included in every garden. Of those, 

 Heavenly Blue, well named, is the best, but azureum, 

 blooming very early, is most attractive, and plumo- 

 sum, the Feathered Hyacinth, more mauve than blue. 

 Muscari moschatum, also leaning to lavender, is large and 

 fragrant of musk, and requires a warm, dry border. The 

 Muscaris like a rich, well-drained soil and plenty of grit, 

 and should be planted three inches deep in early autumn. 

 They do well either in the grass or in the beds and borders. 



