BULBOUS PLANTS 



of the beds and borders. On the lawn they give thus 

 early the impression that nature has taken matters 

 in hand and that she alone is responsible for their 

 presence. Nevertheless, many people still cling to the 

 old custom of using them for the permanent edging 

 of garden beds and borders. Snowdrops, as well as 

 crocuses and squills, look especially well in front of 

 geometrically planned beds, and also in various borders 

 and places backed by evergreens. 



The snowdrops delight in shade, and I have seen 

 extensive plantings of rhododendrons enlivened by the 

 presence of these fairy -like bells at their base, while their 

 broad, lustrous foliage still held the snows of winter. 



Places of small area, moreover, where there is 

 limited lawn space, and where a crescent-shaped bed 

 or a hardy border is, perhaps, the principal abode of 

 flowers, would sadly miss these early visitors peeping 

 out shyly when all else is bare of leaf. 



The snowdrops hold their bloom until the crocuses 

 have pierced the earth. From that time on they vanish 

 gradually. 



The spring, or dwarf, snowflake, Leucojum vernum, 

 blossoms in the early spring, seeming almost as if it 

 would take the place of the fairy -like snowdrops. 

 One of its varieties, called carpathicum, is exceedingly 

 pretty, and tipped with yellow. The species cestivum 

 grows taller and blooms a few weeks later than the 

 vernum, and is sometimes called the summer snow- 

 flake. The snowflakes add greatly to the witchery 

 of the border and are easily grown. Their bulbs 

 should be planted in the autumn. 



[113] 



