COLOUR IN MY GARDEN 



strong purple Dutch Crocuses. Thickly planted about the 

 scarlet Japanese Quince they create a gorgeous breadth in 

 the pale spring garden. 



By now there are many shrubs come to flowering that 

 we should be taking advantage of in creating charming 

 pictures. There is the snow-white Magnolia stellata so 

 pretty with a ground cover of the common Grape Hyacinth, 

 Muscari botryoides. There are long lines of radiant For- 

 sythias which droop their laden branches upon a floor 

 jewelled with sky-blue Chionodoxa and yellow and white 

 Crocus; there is the Twin-flowered Honeysuckle scenting 

 all the world, and the fluffy little Spiraea Thunbergi with 

 bold clumps of gorgeous Crown Imperials standing out 

 against its soft white skirts. The shrubbery border is a 

 haven for spring bulbs. Here they may ripen their foliage 

 and increase their kind without the constant prying and 

 digging and making over that go on in the haunts of 

 perennials; and here we may have picture after picture, 

 from the first flowering of Jasmine and Snowdrop until the 

 last heavy-headed Darwin Tulips group about the creamy 

 Mock Orange bushes; and again in autumn, when the autumn 

 Crocuses gleam before the reddening foliage of the shrubs. 



Yellow and sky blue is ever a gay and sprightly association. 

 We may have it sweetly of Primroses and Forget-me-nots 

 along the edges of a damp north border. 



It is a pity we do not make more use of Primroses in our 

 country. Given the proper soil conditions, and divided 

 yearly, the every-day sorts are charmingly responsive. I 

 mean the true English Primrose (Primula vulgaris), which 

 has a number of soft-coloured varieties, the Cowslip (P. 



43 



