MAY IN THE GARDEN 75 



so amiable and unless one can give them a very rich, 

 deep soil, or dampness, it is best not to try them. If 

 comfortable, they grow into stout clumps of nicely cut 

 foliage, gayly ornamented with double flowers deep 

 cream, yellow, or orange-scarlet. 



Blue and white Flax flowers are everywhere just 

 now and are always captivating in their light spraylike 

 growth. They occupy little space, sowing their seeds 

 about and gaining a footing in the chinks of walls and 

 steps, along the edges of the paths, and anywhere in the 

 borders. One border has its stone edging buried be- 

 neath a cloak of gray Cerastium, Gypsophila repens, and 

 blue Veronica prostrata, with groups of Flax alternating 

 along its whole length with long-stemmed pink Thrift 

 (Armenia latifolia). In another border pink Tulips rise 

 delightfully from a mass of sky-blue Flax, and in still 

 another it has appointed itself a background for deep- 

 purple Campanula glomerata. The Narbon Flax (Linum 

 narbonense) is perhaps a more skylike blue than the 

 more familiar L. perenne, but is not so hardy. Both 

 bloom all summer if seeding is not allowed. Linum 

 flavum is a beautiful plant, more robust in appearance, 

 but less so in reality than perenne, with rich yellow 

 flowers and nice grayish foliage. It has never been 

 very happy with me, disappearing or sulking in a most 

 annoying manner, but last fall I discovered that my 

 rather weak-looking plants had begun to seed themselves 

 and had started quite a thriving colony in the path, 



