Flowers of May. 75 



flowers, each three inches wide, and of the purest whiteness, is one of the 

 most beautiful objects in the garden at any season. It is precisely such a 

 bed as this which furnished the text of what we are writing. 



The trilliums are, for the most part, an exceedingly shy family. They 

 love moist, half-shaded woods, and thrive in the rich mould of decayed 

 vegetation. There are many kinds ; but most of them, when removed to 

 the garden, pine and dwindle. We well remember, some years ago, 

 admiring the profusion and beauty of the pink-and-white flowers of Trillium 

 pictum, in a swamp at Island Pond, Vt., not half a mile behind the railway 

 station. These, and the fine native shrub, Viburnum lantanoides, with its 

 rich clusters of milk-white flowers, were queens of the solitude. Once or 

 twice since then, we have planted Trillium pidum in the garden, given it 

 all the rotten leaves it could desire, and otherwise encouraged it to the 

 best of our skill ; but it would not thrive ; and we doubt if any of it is 

 now living. The purple trillium is more manageable, and has lived here 

 six or eight years, blooming a little every spring. Yet, as a garden flower, 

 neither this nor any other of its race is to be compared with Trilliu7n 

 grandiflorum, which, in a well-prepared soil, — that is, a light soil enriched 

 with leaf mould, — will thrive to admiration, and bloom with increased 

 beauts- every year. The plants should not be often removed or divided, 

 except for purposes of propagation. It is a tedious and difficult process 

 to raise them from seed ; and to divide the root is the best way to 

 increase them for the amateur cultivator. We know no locality where 

 they grow wild in this neighborhood. Ours were sent us from Canada, 

 where they grew in a pasture on the slopes of the Mountain of Montreal. 

 There were about twent}' of the tuberous roots, which, being planted, 

 bloomed rather feebly the next year, but improved every spring, till they 

 formed a superb circle of bloom. Some of them have since been divided, 

 and it will require one or more seasons to restore them to perfection. 

 The buds open with the whiteness of a snow-drift; and they remain a long 

 time in this state, at length assuming a rosy tint as they fade. 



A bed of polyanthus, side by side with the trillium, forms a striking 

 contrast with its virgin white ; for it is gay with innumerable brilliant, not 

 to say gaudy, hues, — red, brown, crimson, yellow, pink, purple, black, and 



