spring Flowers. y 



nothing will kill it. There is another hardy Daphne, of which we shall 

 speak in its season. 



Now, side by side with the clumps of crocus and the drooping blue-bells 

 of the Siberian squill, — a beautiful bulbous plant, deformed with an ugly 

 name, — the hepaticas are opening their flowers. The wild single hepatica is 

 a beautiful ornament of the garden, where, if planted in soil mixed with 

 well-decayed leaves, or black mould from the woods, it does very well ; but 

 the most beautiful of the family are the double red, double blue, and dou- 

 ble white hepaticas of Europe. They grow here as well as our own species, 

 and require, like them, a fresh light soil. They have, like the American 

 hepaticas, a way of pushing themselves out of the ground ; so that they 

 must be replanted every three or four years, — always in early autumn ; for 

 they must not be disturbed when in growth. 



April 14. — Arabis alpina and Arabis albida in full bloom. They grow 

 close to the earth, in large circular cushions of evergreen leaves, almost 

 hidden at present under the dense mass of pure white flowers. Sanguinaria, 

 violets, pansies, and Adonis vernalis, as well as the narcissus and the hya- 

 cinth, come into bloom at the same time ; and, when planted in the same 

 bed, give a rich variety of color. The sanguinaria, or bloodroot, is one of 

 the most interesting of our wild-flowers. When fully open in the warm sun, 

 it is in shape like a many-pointed white star ; and, when closed at night, it 

 is no less beautiful. Even after the bloom has ceased, the leaves, which 

 continue to enlarge for several weeks, are very ornamental. Nothing can 

 be hardier, or easier of culture. It thrives in the common soil of the 

 garden, with no special care. 



Adonis vernalis is a fine hardy plant, with lustrous yellow flowers some 

 two inches in diameter, and leaves finely cut, like parsley. It forms a 

 clump about eighteen inches high, where its gay blossoms open in bright 

 relief against the fresh green foliage. Its culture requires no skill, and we 

 never knew it to suffer in the hardest winter. 



Pansies are widely known. They come, by right, within the province 

 of " florist flowers," — a class whose natural beauties have been enhanced 

 by a painstaking culture through many generations, and which, to bring 

 them to their greatest perfection, require a cultivation specially adapted to 

 them. Pansies, however, will grow and bloom very creditably with ordi- 



