212 



POPULAR GARDENING'. 



September, 



On the Culture of Hardy Bulbs. 



WILLIAM FALCONER, GLEN COVE, N. T. 



The Best Time to Plant. Any time between 

 now and November will do, but bear in mind 

 that the bulbs will be better if put into the 

 ground now than they will be if left in the 

 seedsman's store for another month or two. 

 And the prices don't get any less no matter 

 how long you delay buying, but the longer you 

 put off getting your bulbs, the less likely you 

 are to get a good selection or good bulbs. 



What to Plant. This wlU de- 

 pend on what you want them for. 

 If for beds, then Tuhps, Hyacinths, 

 Crocuses and Siberian Squills; the 

 first two to fill the center of the beds 

 and the last two for use as edgings. 



If you want them to set out in 

 your borders to give you a variety 

 and display of spring flowers, then 

 get Hyacinths, Tulips, Daffodils, 

 Poet's Narcissus, Crown Imperials, 

 Guinea-hen Flowers, Crocuses, Snow- 

 drops, Siberian SqulUs, Spanish 

 Squills, European Blue-bells, Grape 

 and Feather Hyacinths, and the 

 like. And this is a most enjoyable 

 way of using them ; you can plant 

 them most anywhere, and in sum- 

 mer after they have bloomed and 

 died down you may let other plants 

 spread over them without hurting 

 them. In the case of Crocuses and 

 Snowdrops they seem most at home 

 when spread broadcast in the grass 

 or skirting the bushes. But in thus 

 naturalizing them plant them in 

 good, moderately moist ground only, 

 and instead of spreading them thinly 

 all over the grass, keep them to- 

 gether, quite thickly in the main 

 patch and more thinly towards the 

 outer edges. And don't mix up a 

 lot of things, as Crocuses, Snow- 

 drops, and Siberian Squills together; 

 keep each in a colony by itself. 



I wouldn't recommend expensive 

 bulbs to an amateur; indeed, I al- 

 ways grudge the money for Hya- 

 cinths to bed. I think they cost 

 more than they are worth, and after 

 the first year aren't much good. 

 But Tulips, Daffodils, Crocuses, Snowdrops, 

 Guinea-hen Flowers, and some others, not 

 only are showy and easy to grow, but with 

 moderately kind treatment they continue to 

 bloom well and multiply year after year, and 

 they are quite inexpensive. 



Soil and Setting Out. Bulbs love a deeply 

 worked, Ught rich soil, but they will grow and 

 prosper in most any good garden ground. 

 With sand, coal ashes, burned clay or other 

 light material we can correct a stiff soil, and by 

 adding loam freely improve a sandy one. 

 Good drainage is of much importance. A 

 naturally rich soil, or one that has been well 

 manured for former crops, is preferable to 

 freshly manured land. Many bulbs. Tulips 

 and Hyacinths, for instance, may enjoy well- 

 rotted cow-manure in the soil, but LUies dis- 

 play a great repugnance to it. Therefore be on 

 the safe side and manure well from the surface 

 in the way of mulchings rather than by work- 

 ing the manure into the ground. 



In planting set the bulbs deep enough so that 

 frost may not throw them out in winter. 

 Hyacinths, Tulips and Daffodils may be four 

 Inches under the surface of the ground ; and 

 Crocuses, SquUIs, Snowdrops, and the like, 

 some 3 inches. If planted early so that they 

 may firm themselves by fresh roots before 

 winter sets in, or if they are mulched over by 

 some loose well-rotted material in winter, they 

 are not likely to be thrown out by frost. 



But observe if you set out your bulbs in 

 ground matted by the roots of trees and shrubs 

 they may bloom well enough the first yeari 

 but after that very indifferently. In such 



quarters you can help matters by top-dressing 

 in fall with manure and compost. 



Mulching the Beds. As regarding mulch- 

 ing with leaves, thatch or other rough material 

 over winter, in the case of early growing stock, 

 I cannot recommend the practice. Snowdrops, 

 Crocuses, Winter Aconites, Erythroniunis, Iris 

 reticulata, Bulbocodium vernum. Early Scil- 

 las, Roman Hyacinths, Due Von Thol Tulips, 

 Daffodils, many Fritillarias, and the like, should 

 not be mulched, except by a thin coating of 



No 1, Yarcifhus Btcolor Horsfteldi ^c i M schatiis albicans No 3 N poeticus 

 roduftorua. No. i, N,bifioraa. No. 6, ^. ImWuodum. No.t, S.maxtmuB 



GROUP OF NARCISSUSES. 



half rotted leaves or old manure, something 

 put on for permanent. It is not the intensity of 

 frost in winter so much as the tearing winds of 

 March that destroys eai'ly vegetation; there- 

 fore it must be plain to any one that the time 

 when the mulching should be removed is just 

 the time when the bulbs would need it most. 

 But what on earth is the use of mulching hardy 

 bulbs at all in this way ? It is all very well to 

 mulch late starting stock, for instance. Hall's 

 Amaryllis, Spanish Irises, and some Asiatic 

 and California LOies, but even here, in the 

 case of Lilies, we must use great discretion, for 

 while Auratum Lilies are late in starting, 

 Hansonii is the earliest of all, and both are 

 Japanese. A very thin coating or thatch may 

 be beneficial in preventing sudden thawing and 

 consequent "scalding," but it should not be 

 used thick enough to blanch the growths. We 

 mulch all of our Lilies with a heavy coating of 

 tree leaves every winter, but the leaves are put 

 on for permanent more as a protection against 

 the summer's heat and drought than the winter's 

 cold, and we mark the places of the Lilies with 

 strong pegs, so that we can push the mulching 

 aside from over the tops of the bulbs, which in 

 spring send up their growths unimpeded. 



As TO Selection. Give preference to spec- 

 ial sorts when buying rather than to mixtures, 

 and, if you are a beginner, avoid high-priced 

 bulbs till you know something about the good 

 old standard sorts, and confine yourself to 

 Tulips, Daffodils, Poet's^Narcissus, Crocuses, 

 Snowdrops, Siberian Squills, and other common 

 plants that never fail to grow and bloom and 

 make an excellent show. 



The following is a selection of good, showy, 

 reliable and inexpensive sorts: 



Hyacinths, single, white— Baron Van Thuyl, 

 La Candeur, Vesta; blue — Charles Dickens, 

 General Havelock; red — Amy, Robert Stieger. 

 Double, white — La Tour d'Auvergne; blue — 

 Garrick; red — Boui[uet Tendre. For very early 

 have some White Roman Hyacinths. The 

 Amethyst Hyacinth is a pretty little blue 

 flowered species. Grape and Feather Hyacinths 

 (Muscari) accommodate themselves to most 

 any place in the garden, and are 

 very hardy. 



Tulips, single, red— Scarlet Due 

 Von Thol, Artus, Belle Alliance, and 

 Vermilion Brilliant ; Thomas Moore, 

 Nankeen, Keiser Kroon, and Duch- 

 esse de Parma, red, striped with 

 yellow; Cottage Maid, rose and 

 white; Pottebaker, white; Canary- 

 bird, Chrysolora and Yellow Prince, 

 yellow. Double ; — Imperator rubro- 

 rum, and Rex rubrorum, red;Tour- 

 nesol, red and yellow; La Candeur, 

 white; and Yellow Rose, yeUow. 

 Add a few Bybloemens and Bizarres 

 by way of variety ; and by all means 

 some Parrot Tulips for their odd 

 fantastic form and because they 

 bloom so late. 



Crnrii.'ifs. Say "Spring- flowering 

 mixed," with the addition of some 

 large yellow flowered. And if you 

 want some lovely fall-blooming 

 Crocuses, get Crocus speciosus. And 

 also to bloom in fall get some Col- 

 chicums, or Meadow Saffrons, as 

 they are commonly called. Col- 

 chicum autumnale is the common- 

 est, but C. speciosum the largest 

 and loveliest. 



Snowd rops. The common single 

 and double variety of it; Elwesi, 

 for beauty; and the Crimean Snow- 

 drops for size and lateness. 



Squills (Scilla). The Siberian 

 Squill is the best of its class, its 

 flowers are porcelain blue, and ap- 

 pear in March and last through 

 April. The Spanish Squill (S. cam- 

 ■panulata), 13 to 18 inches high, 

 makes a capital border perennial. 

 Blue BeUs (S. nutans) are the blue Squills that 

 abound so plentifully in European woods; they 

 are just as easy to grow here. Glory of the 

 Snow (Chionodoxa Liwilia') is a squiU-like little 

 gem well worth growing. 



Crown Imperials. Get a few red and yellow 

 flowered varieties and grow them in clumps 

 and in good giound ; also Guinea-hen Flowers to 

 scatter along the front of the shrubberies. 



Narcissuses. Common single and double 

 Daffodils and Poet's Narcissus. Orange Phcenlx 

 does well in most cases; so do Horsefleld's Em- 

 peror and Empress, but these are too high- 

 priced. No doubt many other species and 

 varieties of Narcissus may prove satisfactory 

 perennial plants with us, but really they seem 

 rather refractory. The first year they bloom 

 splendidly, the next year a few drop out, and 

 so on until the collection dwindles very much. 

 Even Jonquils are not always to be depended 

 on. But with the aid of cold frames and pots, 

 and lifting and drying in summer all the early 

 growers, we manage most of them fairly well. 

 Besides the above we have Lilies, Dog's-tooth 

 Violets (Erijthroniitm), Belladonna, Amaryl- 

 lises, Red and Blufe Brodia?as, White Cooperias, 

 Star-of-Bethlehem, and several others. 



The Fragrant Pond Lily. 



WM. H. YEOMANS, COLUMBIA, CONN. 



Among the many beautiful flowers that grow 

 vrild, or without the attention of the cultivator, 

 there is none, probably, more admired and 

 more largely sought than the white Nymph» 

 of our ponds and rivers. While it is seldom 



