October Looking Forward 



bulb the earlier you must plant it for, as a rule, the little 

 ones are the first to bloom. September is the month 

 in which to put in the Snowdrops, Crocuses, Squills, Grape 

 Hyacinths, Fritillaries, and others ; if they are still within 

 their brown paper bags do not delay further but, wet 

 or fine, put them in the ground. There are plenty of 

 other kinds which may now worthily occupy our at- 

 tention. 



It is often urged against the professional gardener 

 that he is ultra-conservative in his methods, but it is 

 equally true of the amateur, so far as his selections are 

 concerned, and especially with reference to bulbs. There 

 is nothing to be said against the practice of filling one 

 bed with Emperor, another with Empress Daffodils, and 

 so on, except that it is very ordinary gardening and to 

 be compared with planting the same beds in summer with 

 Geranium and Calceolaria which, however greatly they 

 may add to the gaiety of the garden, are painfully 

 monotonous. Do not, I beg of you, continue to order 

 just those ordinary kinds of bulbs which are to be seen 

 in everyone else's garden ; try others which may be but 

 names to you. You may experience a few disappoint- 

 ments, but they will be as nothing in comparison with 

 the delight that follows upon the discovery of some fresh 

 treasure. 



It must be confessed that some bulb catalogues are 

 very ordinary, and one may search through them in vain 

 for anything more thrilling than the usual Tulips, 

 Hyacinths, Daffodils, and others equally common. But 

 there are catalogues that describe black and green and 

 fragrant Tulips ; red Squills ; Wood Anemones in white, 

 yellow, blue and rose; remarkable Alliums (the Onion 

 is an Allium) ; exquisite winter Crocuses ; hardy Cycla- 

 mens ; golden Fritillaries ; giant Snowdrops ; Irises that 

 blossom in winter ; white, blue and rose Grape Hyacinths ; 

 and Angel's Tears, Hoop Petticoat and Cyclamen-flowered 

 Daffodils. With such flower wealth at command why 



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