FLOWERS FOR SHADE AND SUNSHINE 



in the shadows. Forget-me-nots, as everyone knows, are 

 thoroughly at home in the shade, and there, with the Fox- 

 gloves and Bluebells, they spread quickly and, once 

 established, give the gardener no further trouble than 

 that of pulling up the old plants to make way for the 

 new. As well as the common wayside Primrose of our 

 own country we may grow the Primrose of Japan (Primula 

 japonica) on the shady border, for it, too, dislikes the 

 sunshine. It is a far more striking plant than the native 

 kind, for in May it sends up flowering stems 18 inches or 

 2 feet high, and crowns these with Primrose blossoms 

 in lovely shades of colour, rose, pink, orange, yellow, 

 and many more. How easy a matter it is to raise 

 them from seed ! If sown in summer in a box filled with 

 sandy soil and put in a shady place, the seed soon germin- 

 ates (or most of it, for some may lie dormant for weeks), 

 and the seedlings will make sturdy little plants for per- 

 manent planting in September. 



The border in half shade is just the place for Lily of 

 the Valley, a precious flower that none should be with- 

 out. Care should be taken not to put the " crowns " or 

 roots closer together than 4 inches, or the plants will 

 not have room to spread, and it is as well to know that 

 they appreciate nothing more than an annual dressing of 

 rotted manure or leaf mould, applied, say, in September. 

 The old Solomon's Seal (Polygonatum multiflorum) is a 

 charming plant, comparatively rarely seen in the home 

 garden. Who can fail to admire the long arching growths, 



