MAGNOLIA 
HIS sketch is of another of the garden pictures to be seen Magnolia 
at Kew in April, but it is not everywhere that this lovely Stellata 
Magnolia (ste//ata) can be grown so well. I have tried it and other 
for several years myself, and it makes no growth at all. Probably Varieties 
it is one of the plants which resent lime in the soil, or our spring 
winds may be too cold. At Kew the bushes, when out, are 
protected at night if there is danger of a frost, or all the white 
flowers would be tipped with brown. I am giving it another 
trial on a wall, and have planted next it Prunus triloba flore 
pleno; the two should be lovely together, as the Japanese shrub 
will reach to the top of an eight-foot wall, and make a mass of 
fluffy pink flower ; indeed, I can imagine nothing more beautiful 
for the time of year than its long sprays, shaded from pale pink to 
the bright pink buds at the tips, grouped with the Magnolia 
against a grey stone wall. But the Magnolia should be grown 
also as a bush on the lawn, alone, or, as I prefer, with colour 
above and below, as its petals are so dead a white, with no 
noticeable stamens to relieve them. 
The early months are rich in Magnolias—conspicua, 
which grows into a big tree, is far more beautiful than s¢e//a‘a, 
as apart from its greater size there is a touch of cream in the 
petals, which is preferable to the white papery look of ste//ata, 
and not less brilliant; sow/angiana, following a week or so later, 
is also fine, and is tinged with a soft purplish rose at the base of 
the petals. 
In the sketch, a carpet of Muscari conicum is shown 
III 
