The Guinea-hen flower 



Tlie white Siberian squill (Scilla Sibirica, vax. alba) 



Tlie spring crocus 



What Brings the April Flowers -By Benjamin Goodrich, 



EVERY ONE CAN HAVE FLOW^ERS IN MAY, BUT IT IS ONLY BY FORE- 

 THOUGHT AND PLANTING NOW THAT YOU CAN HAVE AN APRIL GARDEN 



WHEN you were a child you learned the 

 pleasant, jingly half-truth, "April 

 showers bring May flowers." Nobody said 

 anything about what brings the April flowers. 

 I'll tell you: it's a little thought and a little 

 work the year before. 



Perhaps you think that the flowers of 

 April are a rather negligible quantity, 

 barring the hyacinth, tulip, daffodil, and 

 crocus; most people do, so far as my obser- 

 vation goes. One reason why I think that 

 they do is because last April I set out to 

 find a concrete example. In a community 

 somewhat above the average of places 

 where no home need be without a garden, 

 I took note of 119 consecutive door-yards 

 on the same day, and of these, 77 — or, say, 

 two-thirds — had not a single flower visible. 

 Sixteen of the others had only a few daffodils 

 ^in many cases an undisturbed inheri- 

 tance from the previous generation. Eight 

 with hyacinths, seven with forsythia, one 

 each with Dutchman's breeches and white 

 violet, and nine with more than a single kind 

 of flower, mostly less than five, complete the 

 list. Yet at that very moment in my own gar- 

 den 1909 forethought was giving me upward 

 of twenty-five kinds of plants in bloom — with 

 more to follow before the month was over. 



Despite the fact that it was unique there- 

 abouts, mine was no extraordinary April 

 garden; it did not begin to run the gamut 

 of available material. It was only an ordi- 

 nary display of some of the month's pos- 

 sibilities, such a showing as any busy man 

 or woman could have in the spring of the 

 year — if they would only use their heads 

 at the proper time. 



That proper time is now; or, to be more 

 exact, there is only a little of the proper 

 time left. True it is possible to purchase 

 in the early spring certain plants for bloom- 

 ing — before the first of May — Dielytra 

 for one thing; but, as a general proposition, 

 now is your last chance to make sure of 

 plenty of flowers in your April garden. 



What are the flowers of April? Well, 

 I count in all that come before May. I 



can figure on the common snowdrop so early 

 as late February but, somewhere in the 

 borders, it will linger in the lap of April. 

 The Siberian squill {Scilla Sibirica), glory- 

 of-the-snow {Chionodoxa Luciliae), and yel- 

 low crocus — which blooms in advance of 

 the white and purple varieties — I alsc 

 reckon as hold-overs. The last three are 

 invaluable for bits of color in the border 

 or under shrubbery; I plant them in little 

 clumps and leave them undisturbed. The 

 blue of the squill and glory-of-the-snow 

 is especially welcome. There is a white 

 variety of each, but the snowdrop offers a bet- 

 ter contrast, because of the difference in form. 

 Its season may be prolonged by planting the 

 larger and later giant snowdrop {Galanthus 

 Ehvesii) and plaited snowdrop (G. plicaliis). 

 Looking over my April garden this year, 

 a visitor exclaimed: "I think it is remark- 

 able how much blue you have been able to 



The giant snowdrop {Galanthus Elwesii) is the best 

 early -white flower 



112 



get into it so early in the season." If I 

 aim for any one color, however, it is yellow; 

 that lights up the garden so in spring. Two 

 forsythias in the flower borders, and wide 

 apart, have the big candle-power. For the 

 rest I rely largely on the daffodil family, 

 usually in small, scattered clumps. For 

 sheer color. Emperor is best of all; but I 

 use also Empress, Van Sion, and Barrii Con- 

 spicuus, as well as a few smaller unnamed 

 "trumpets" and "medium trumpets." Rock 

 madwort {Alyssum saxatile) is the best 

 April yellow for low massing. I like always 

 to have some of it next to either the white 

 rock cress {Arabis albida), of which there is 

 an excellent double variety, or the early blue 

 forget-me-not {Myosoiis dissitiflora), two of 

 the finest of the flowers that carpet the 

 ground that month. 



Other exceedingly dependable early carpet 

 plants — I put such things here and there 

 along the border edges — are the moss 

 pinks {Phlox subtdata). The common white 

 and pink varieties should be supplemented 

 by one or more of the delicate mauve shades 

 — Lilacina is a good one; or they may be 

 placed by the more refined pink hairy 

 phlox (P. anioena) and the white chick- 

 weed phlox (P. Stellaria). The crawling 

 phlox (P. reptans) is another good pink 

 kind. It belongs to May, but in an early sea- 

 son will start bloolning in April ; similarly the 

 bluish-lilac wild sweet william (P. divari- 

 cata) sometimes anticipates the season. 



The purple rock cress (Aubrietia del- 

 toidea) is an April flower for the border's 

 edge that is a beautiful sight when well 

 established. 



Of the low plants that need to be colo- 

 nized to form an effective group, the pasque 

 flower {Anemone Ptdsatilla) is a comparative 

 rarity that is easily grown in the home 

 garden. The type is a soft purple, but the 

 color varies considerably. The alpine thrift 

 {Armeria alpina) may be used the same 

 way; so may the English daisy {Bellis 

 perennis), netted iris (/. reticulata), dwarf 

 iris (/. pumila), Dutchman's breeches {Die- 



