THE DAY BEFORE SPRING 63 



It forms nice little bushes about eight inches high, gray- 

 leaved and soft, and it loves a full exposure to the sun. 

 Like all these spreading, low-growing plants, it enjoys 

 growing over stones and is never so happy or effective 

 as when hanging over a sunny wall surface. There is a 

 variety of compactum called citrinum, a little softer in 

 colour. 



A. montanum is a pretty yellow-flowered Alyssum 

 with prostrate stems. A. rostratum and A. argenteum, 

 forming hoary little bushes covered with tarnished 

 yellow flower heads, are both worthy of a place and 

 quite different from the others in appearance. 



Before April is past shy Primroses are showing in 

 shadowy places about the garden. Here we have only 

 the yellow, sweet-scented English Primrose and the gay 

 brown and yellow Polyanthus. We grow them under 

 the flowering trees and shrubs, and protect them in win- 

 ter. They love a cool, deep soil, and should be divided 

 yearly just after they have flowered. 



We cannot leave April without mention of the early 

 Tulips, after the Daffodils, her most charming decora- 

 tion. The earliest to bloom here is Tulipa Kaufmann- 

 iana, a beautiful species from Central Asia, sometimes 

 called the Water-lily Tulip, with petals of delicate cream 

 colour swept by flames of carmine on the exterior. T. 

 K. var aurea is yellow with carmine flashes and var. 

 coctinea, from Turkestan, is scarlet with a yellow base. 

 Kaufmanniana is usually in bloom by the middle of the 



