NovremMBeErR, 1908 
.time I am willing to recommend less than 
thirty. I hate anything that sounds like 
“boom talk” or extravagance and in any 
new movement I think THE GARDEN MaGa- 
ZINE ought always to take a conservative 
point of view, for the people who have 
things to sell are always optimistic enough. 
I have reduced their claims therefore by 
the following methods: 
In the first place I rule out all double 
flowers and all flowers profoundly modified 
by man, as being contrary to the spirit of 
wild gardening. This principle excludes 
Van Sion daffodils and garden tulips, which 
are cheap enough but can never look like » 
wild flowers. 
Second, I reject all those which are a 
success in Europe, but not in America, such 
as the Grecian and Apennine windtflowers 
(Anemone blanda and A pennina) and many 
others that have not yet proved that they 
can form permanent, self-supporting colonies 
in America. 
Finally, I am convinced that even rich men 
have no esthetic right to scatter costly bulbs 
in wood or meadow. You cannot make 
hyacinths look like wild flowers. It is a 
common practice to put tulips and Easter 
lily bulbs after forcing into woods or 
meadows, but they never fit. The only places 
for them are the reserve garden and the 
mixed border. You cannot use costly 
material in wild gardening effects without 
ostentation because you violate the law of 
fitness. Bulbs for wild gardening must be 
cheap. 
By “cheap,” I mean bulbs that cost 
$15 a thousand or less, which is at the rate 
of a cent and a half each. These are the 
only ones I advise planting by the thousand. 
The only exception I am willing to make 
is for a group of half a dozen species, like 
Lilium superbum, most of which have larger 
individual flowers but are thoroughly wild. 
The proper scale for planting these is by the 
hundred. Even here I advise nothing that 
costs more than $10 a hundred. And since 
a hundted bulbs of one of these larger- 
flowered species may give an effect equal, 
roughly speaking, to a thousand bulbs of a 
small-flowered species, the exception is 
only apparent — not-real. 
The best way of classifying these bulbs 
for your particular needs is by the season of 
bloom, for if you do not go to your country 
home until the midle of April you need not 
waste money on the March-bloomers. 
rik 
THE MARCH-BLOOMERS 
The first flowers of spring are white. 
The earliest is the snowdrop, Galanthus 
nivalis, which often blooms in February 
amid the snow. The giant snowdrop 
(Galanthus Elwesii) is about twice as large 
and a fortnight or so later. It costs a trifle 
more but makes a much better show. Both 
are daintily pendulous and _ exquisitely 
marked with green. 
The only yellow flower of March I can 
recommend is the winter aconite (Hranthis 
hyemalis) and this only for experiment. 
It belongs to the buttercup family and has 
a solitary flower about an inch across. The 
THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 
plant grows about five inches high. Not 
less than 500 bulbs are needed to make a 
cheery sheet of vivid yellow. Try asheltered 
position, free from the drip of trees. I 
know a patch of 500 at Tuxedo that failed, 
yet some people have grown it for years 
without special care, and it even runs wild in 
a few places in America. 
There are four blue flowers in March. 
First comes Scilla bijolia, purplish blue, then 
Scilla Sibirica, a rich deep blue, and then 
glory of the snow which is cheaper even than 
the scillas. Chionodoxa Lucilie has sky- 
blue flowers with a prominent white eye and 
these are the largest blue flowers of March. 
Chionodoxa Sardensis has smaller flowers 
but more on a stem and of a deeper blue. 
You must not expect these March- 
bloomers to make a big show, because they 
are smaller than the April flowers. The 
charm and wonder of them is their earliness. 
They are harbingers of spring, bravely 
enduring late snow-storms. If you want a 
good show of them you must plant more 
than a thousand. They will thrive either 
in full sun or partial shade. 
THE APRIL-BLOOMERS 
The best April flower for carpeting a 
forest floor is the adder’s tongue or dog 
tooth lily (Erythronium Americanum). The 
best time to collect it is in August when the 
bulbs are ripe, but the bulbs are deep, hard 
to dig and many of them are too small to 
flower. You can buy large bulbs by the 
thousand from any good dealer. And this is 
true of every wild flower mentioned here. 
The best white flower of April for lining 
a mile or so of shaded driveway is bloodroot 
(Sanguinaria Canadensis). The English 
are always trying to grow this on a big scale 
and failing. The root seems to bleed badly 
on a long journey. This and the preceding 
The Siberian squili, Scilla Sibirica, one of the best 
four blue flowers of March for naturalizing in the 
grass 
species are shade-demanders; the other 
April flowers will thrive either in sun or 
partial shade. 
The earliest spring flowers that make a 
good show and offer a wide range of colors are 
crocuses. ‘They are also the cheapest of all 
bulbs, the mixed kinds costing only $3 
a thousand. They are not permanent in a 
lawn, but in a garden they multiply. Even 
if they should not hold their own in woods, 
they are so cheap that you can afford to 
Lily-of-the-valley naturalized under pines at South Lancaster, Mass., estate of Mr. E. V. R. Thayer, 
showing what a good ground cover it makes even when not in flower 
