GARDEN FL O WERS. 



159 



MOSS PINK. 

 (phlox subulata.) 



showy variety, and bears flowers an inch and a half across, 

 and of the deepest velvety }Durple. Very charming in 

 early spring are the dwarf 

 phloxes ( Phlox subulata ) . It 

 is like moss, no higher than 

 the budding grass, and has 

 myriads of small pink flowers 

 with darker centres. Great 

 masses on the rocks at Central 

 Park along the east and west 

 drives make for visitors one 

 of the most delightful sur- 

 prises of early spring. One 

 valuable quality of this phlox 

 is that it will flourish on the 

 smallest amount of soil directly on the edge of rocks. 

 There is a fine, pure white flowering variety, nivalis, 

 that also deserves general employment. Phlox amoena is 

 another fine pink species that grows somewhat higher. 



The hardy columbines in the season of bloom are all 

 specially attractive. In early spring we have the Canada 

 columbine ( Aquilegia Canadensis), showing abundant red 

 and yellow flowers. This is a showy and effective plant, and 

 should be planted in every arrangement of bedding plants. 

 It is particularly effective on rock-work. It grows one to 

 three feet high. Some of the anemones, or wind-flowers, 

 come early in the spring, bearing blue and white flowers 

 six to eight inches high, like Caroliniana and nemorosa of 

 the United States. A . patens var. NuttalUana, a native 

 American plant of considerable value, is one of the largest 



