THE GARDEN IN SPRING 45 



effectiveness is much increased by the great dark brown 

 blotch at the bottom of its cup, and this is even more 

 marked in the variety spathulata. Many of the self- 

 coloured Darwin tulips are also delightful and vigorous 

 growers. The early dwarf species, T. Greigi, with its 

 brilliant red flowers and quaintly marked leaves, is well 

 worth cultivating either in small groups or bold masses, 

 as also is the native species, T. Sylvestris, with pale yellow 

 flowers of great beauty. Among other species and 

 varieties specially worthy of a place in the garden are 

 T. Elegans, T. retrojlexa, T. australis, the dwarf T. 

 kolpakowskyana, T. viridiflora, T. clusiana (introduced 

 early in the seventeenth century), T. vitell'ma, and the 

 kinds known as Golden Eagle, Picotee, and Bouton d'Or. 

 To modify the observation of a writer of the seventeenth 

 century, "The tulip is a queenly flower, and asketh a 

 rich soil and the hand of a lover." And indeed given 

 these conditions tulips may be easily and successfully 

 grown. 



The bulbs already named are but a few of those 

 worth growing for effects of beauty in the spring gar- 

 den, for a complete enumeration would occupy many 

 times the amount of space at disposal. There is, how- 

 ever, one other bulbous plant which should be included 

 in any collection of spring flowers, the Erythronium or 

 Dog's Tooth Violet. The beautiful European species, 

 E. dens-canis, has been grown in England for nearly 

 three hundred years, and, in light soil and an open sunny 

 site, produces its rose coloured flowers with freedom. 

 The more recently introduced American species are 

 equally worth growing. Spring is the great season for 

 the flowering of bulbous plants for the very obvious 

 reason that only plants with an accumulated store of 

 last season's solar energy can produce flowers so early 

 in the year. For like reason it is that the thick-rooted 

 primroses and other species of primula are such early 



