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Gardening for Amateurs 



garden soil. August and September are the 

 best months for planting, though it may be 

 done later and even in spring. Put the 

 bulbs 3 inches deep, the Spanish Iris 

 4 inches apart, and the English Iris 6 inches 

 apart. Replanting is desirable every third 

 or fourth year, in August. The Spanish Iris 

 (I. xiphion) has smaller flowers and foliage 

 than the English Iris (I. xiphioides) ; the 

 former blooms in early June, the latter about 



The Spring Snowflake (Leucojum vernum). 



a fortnight later. They range from 18 to 30 

 inches high. Bold groups of these Irises 

 should be planted in beds and borders, and 

 if space in the reserve garden permits, they 

 are worth growing for cut-flower decoration. 

 One of the most beautiful beds it is possible 

 to have in summer consists of the Spanish 

 or English Iris planted 7 and 9 inches apart 

 carpeted with the annual Gypsophila elegans ; 

 sow the seeds of Gypsophila as soon as the 

 Irises are planted in autumn. Bulbs can be 

 purchased in mixture or a collection of named 



varieties will be found in nearly all bulb- 

 dealers' catalogues. The names under which 

 they are sold vary so much from different 

 growers that it would serve no useful purpose 

 to give a list here. They include a very wide 

 range of colours. 



Leucojum (Snowflake). The Giant 

 Snowdrops would be an appropriate name 

 for these beautiful spring and summer bulbs, 

 as the flowers, though borne several together 

 on longer stalks, much resem- 

 ble the Snowdrop in shape and 

 colour. The first to flower is 

 L. vernum, the popular Spring 

 Snowflake, whose beautiful 

 white, green-tipped blooms, on 

 6 to 9 inch stalks, grace the 

 plants during March ; of this 

 there is a robust - growing 

 variety named carpathicum.. 

 The Summer Snowflake (L. 

 aestivum) flowers in May and 

 June, the drooping white 

 flowers, tipped with green, be- 

 ing on stems 18 inches high. 

 Another species fl o w e r i n g 

 about the same time is L. 

 pulchellum (Hernandezii), from 

 the Balearic Isles ; the blooms 

 are white, tipped with green, 

 much resembling those of L.. 

 aestivum. For a shady nook 

 in the rockery in sandy soil, 

 L. autumnale, with pink and 

 white flowers, is worth plant- 

 ing. It grows 4 inches high,, 

 flowering in autumn. Leuco- 

 jums will grow in ordinary 

 garden soil which is not too 

 dry. They prefer moist and 

 half-shady spots. Plant L. 

 in March, and the others in 

 September and October. Increase is by 

 offsets. Plant 3 inches deep and 4 inches 

 apart. In the flower border clumps or 

 groups of twelve to twenty bulbs are most 

 effective. 



Muscari (Grape Hyacinth). In the rock 

 garden, among deciduous shrubs and hardy 

 ferns, and in groups along the front of a 

 border, Grape Hyacinths are most effective,, 

 and may remain undisturbed for years. 

 They look especially well beneath the white 



autumnale 



