SHADED GARDENS 225 
inner line of a pergola, or parts of a formal gar- 
den, would seem to make conventionality desirable. 
Shaded gardens, as a rule, ought to be naturalistic. 
For early spring, when branches are still leafless 
or nearly so, there is nothing more beautiful than 
several forms of the hardy primrose (Primula). 
The loveliest is the English primrose (P. vulgaris ) 
—which has been slow making its way here, consid- 
ering the fact that it is one of England’s commonest 
wildflowers and that with a proper degree of mois- 
ture and summer shade it is quite hardy here. The 
cowslip (P. veris), the oxlip (P. elatior), any yel- 
low polyanthus (P. polyantha) and the Japanese 
primrose (P. japonica) are easier of culture and 
also are in every way desirable for massing on any 
scale. The pink P. cortusoides Sieboldit and P. 
farinosa, the lilac P. denticulata, the violet P. cap- 
itata and the (type) P. auricula are finely suited 
for shaded gardens but require more care. 
Of the spring bulbs there are the snowdrop, Si- 
berian squill, glory-of-the-snow, grape hyacinth, 
wood hyacinth, common hyacinth, crocus, tulip, 
crown imperial, daffodil and guinea-hen flower 
that may be planted where shade comes later. Any 
of them will grow in the thin grass under the trees 
of an old orchard and all are the better for a 
ground cover. This need not be grass and asa 
rule would better not be, though daffodils look par- 
ticularly well in it. Snowdrops, for example, will 
come up through a carpet of periwinkle or bishop’s 
weed, Siberian squill and lily-of-the-valley may be 
