74 FAMILIAR GARDEN FLOWERS. 



Gentians rank amongst the noblest of Alpine flowers, 

 and they give us tones of blue that never fail to excite 

 surprise, no matter how familiar we may be with them. 

 Their geographical range is certainly South European ; but 

 their head-quarters are the mountains that run east and 

 west from Transylvania to Cape Finisterre. India, too, has 

 its true gentians and its exacums, these last being marvels 

 of colour — the petals intensely blue, and the stamens in- 

 tensely yellow. 



Conjuring is easy when you know how to do it ; and 

 so also is the growing of gentians. It is given to few to 

 succeed, while many fail, and our business in these pages 

 is to point out the way to success for any and every 

 lover of these much-loved flowers. Go with us up the 

 mountain, and you shall see them in the pastures, and in 

 nooks amongst the rocks, where they are exposed to the 

 fullest light, and are frequently bathed in mountain mois- 

 ture. You will never see them in a dry soil; you will 

 never see them in such shaded hollows as the ferns creep 

 into ; and you will not often see them where keen breezes 

 prevail. They like sheltered nooks, open to all the light of 

 heaven and to the kindlier airs of the mountain ; and their 

 roots must have constant supplies of moisture, or the plants 

 will surely fade away. These conditions may all be secured 

 in gardens ; and as a matter of fact, all the gentians are 

 well grown in gardens by the few — it is with no pleasure 

 we say the very few — who know how to do it. 



The gentianella (Gentiana acaulis) is one of the easiest 

 to manage as a garden plant, but is useless on a very dry 

 soil. A deep moist loam will suit it well, and a surfacing 

 of stones seems always to its taste ; in fact, a stony soil 

 deep and moist, will suit this and many more of the gentian 



