CHAPTER IV 



MAECH 



Flowering bulbs — Dog-tooth "Violet — Rock-garden — Variety of 

 Rhododendron foliage — A beautiful old kind — Suckers on 

 grafted plants — Plants for filling up the beds — Heaths — An- 

 dromedas — Lady Fern — Lilium auratum — Pruning Roses — 

 Training and tying climbing plants — Climbing and free-grow- 

 ing Roses — The Vine the best wall-covering — Other climbers — 

 Wild Clematis— Wild Rose. 



In early March many and lovely are tlie flowering 



bulbs, and among them a wealth of blue, the more 



precious that it is the colour least frequent among 



flowers. The blue of Seilla sibirica, like all blues that 



have in them a suspicion of green, has a curiously 



penetrating quality ; the blue of Seilla hifolia does not 



attack the eye so smartly. Chionodoxa sardensis is of a 



full and satisfying colour, that is enhanced by the small 



space of clear white throat. A bed of it shows very 



little variation in colour. Chionodoxa Imcilioe, on the 



other hand, varies greatly ; one may pick out light and 



dark blue, and light and dark of almost lilac colour. 



The variety C. gigantea is a fine plant. There are some 



pretty kinds of Seilla hifolia that were raised by the 



Rev, J. G, Nelson of Aldborough, among them a tender 



3: 



