GARDENS NEAR THE SEA 



all had their day long before it opens its flowers. It 

 is a plant of midsummer and early autumn, its bold, 

 distinctive presence giving character to many places 

 in a garden. It can stand cold situations so long as 

 they are exposed to the sun. Through the cool days 

 of the autumn it holds itself proudly, although, unlike 

 the more delicate appearing members of its race, it 

 has not the courage to test the uncertain weather of 

 the early spring. 



The pretty little grape hyacinths, of which Muscari 

 Botryoides, showing purple flowers, is commonly seen, 

 are particularly hardy bulbous plants, doing well in 

 almost any soils and situation. They are useful in 

 many garden borders and equally attractive to scatter 

 in short grass, where they cleverly hide the fact that 

 they are foreigners to the soil. They sink so snugly 

 into the grass and illumine it so completely with their 

 prim pert-looking bloom that they generally give the 

 impression that they are true plants of the wild. 



Muscari Botryoides alba is the white companion 

 of the purple variety, and M . commutatum bears a 

 pure, dark blue flower. There are also other varieties 

 of merit. The grape hyacinths come at a time when 

 shrubs and trees are still suspicious of the spring and 

 loth to wear its clothing. 



A spring garden can hardly be imagined without 

 numbers of tulips, chaste and exquisite among the 

 early flowers. In outline they are very simple, and in 

 color exceedingly pure. They suggest neither subtlety 

 nor complexity. 



Tulips are especially valuable in borders and beds 



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