HARDY SPRING FLOWERS. 



By Francis Parkman, Jamaica Plain, Mass. 



Between the first opening of spring and the blooming of the bed- 

 ding plants and annuals, there is a period of several weeks, in which 

 most gardens show little color but green. Hyacinths, Crocuses, Frit- 

 tillarias, Narcissus, and a few other bulbs may be made to do a great 

 deal towards filling the gap, but their bloom is soon over. Few of the 

 shrubs blossom before June, and it is often midsummer before the 

 Verbenas, Geraniums, Fuchsias, and Heliotropes make even a toler- 

 able show. The month of May becomes a month of promise without 

 performance, and flowers are scarce at the very time when most people 

 long for them most. It is easy to have them in abundance, and with 

 very little trouble, by the free use of early flowering perennials. The 

 following kinds will be found to answer the purpose pei-fectly. They 

 all bloom before the end of May. There are many others blooming in 

 early June, which we may perhaps describe hereafter. 



First, we would name the whole race of violets, including the Pansy. 

 By sowing pansy seed in August or September, and covering the 

 young plants with leaves during winter, an abundant bloom can be 

 had at the first opening of spring. The single Russian ever-blooming 

 violet blossoms as early as the crocus, as does also the superb variety 

 called the " Czar." The double English and the Neapolitan soon 

 follow. 



VOL. IX. 9 J29 



