SPRING IN THE GARDEN 145 



Some of the primroses are for the rock- 

 garden, where they may be companions to the 

 alpine species which are the gems of the spring 

 months. I am thinking now of the blue primroses 

 which had their origin in the late Mr. G. F. 

 Wilson's garden at Wisley, in Surrey. The 

 colour is not strictly blue, not the blue of the 

 gentian, but when the tufts are planted in a 

 shady moist corner of the rock-garden, the shade 

 of purple is not unpleasant. In Mr. Wilson's 

 garden the primroses were planted against moss- 

 covered stones for the sake of the contrast in 

 colour, and they have not been disturbed since 

 this garden came into the hands — I am thankful to 

 say — of the Royal Horticultural Society, through 

 the generosity of the late Sir Thomas Hanbury. 



The garden in spring has of recent years re- 

 flected the copse and the woodland. It is as 

 beautiful and interesting as in summer or in 

 autumn, and I think much of this is due to the 

 influence of the late Mr. Ingram, who had charge 

 of the beautiful gardens of the Duke of Rutland 

 at Belvoir Castle. Spring gardening was, and is, 

 under the direction of Mr. Divers, represented 

 in a way to show the possibihties of beautiful 

 associations of colour lasting until the threshold 



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