BULBOUS PLANTS 



For early flowers on lawns snowdrops, crocuses, 

 and Siberian squills are especially well adapted, because 

 their flower and even their foliage dies down to the 

 bulb before it is time to mow the grass. They are, 

 besides, sufficiently pretty to appear as the young 

 bloom of the grass. A show of more conspicuous 

 flowers on a lawn is undesirable. 



Before the golden bells unfold; before the blossoms 

 burst from the wood of the red maples; before the twigs 

 on the shrubs are tinged with color, snowdrops, crocuses, 

 and squills have ventured to cross the threshold of 

 spring. The alder in wild places then showers pollen 

 from its fringelike catkins; the skunk cabbage is awake 

 in the moist country, and pussy willows can be found 

 by those who seek them. In spots of the woods where 

 the sun steals and lingers, hepaticas show themselves 

 wrapped in their silky fuzz. The grass about the bases 

 of the trees has turned to shades of emerald green; 

 the arbutus has formed its buds. Too quickly then 

 pass these days of high hopes and expectancy. 

 Suddenly, with a warm, swift touch, spring fully awakes. 

 Myriads of tiny leaves unfold; color appears in every 

 twig and branch. April creeps in enlivened by daffo- 

 dils, hyacinths, tulips, and the blossom of numbers of 

 flowering shrubs. 



Daffodils or Narcissi next become the reigning 

 beauties of many formal gardens, while in naturalistic 

 places they are invariably a delight to the eye. They 

 are, besides, practical plants, since once well established 

 they live for years and increase rapidly. They have not, 

 like the crocuses, the habit of running out or of becom- 



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