116 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



October, 1909 



and I cannot realize why it is not more used 

 but it simply must be planted early. With 

 very little protection the large trumpet or 

 Easter lily (L. longiflorum) can also be grown 

 out-of-doors. The small tiger lily (L. tigrin- 

 um) is also very effective, but some folks 

 like the double form. Both are good, and the 

 cheapest of all the lilies, and they multiply 

 very rapidly. The same can be said of the 

 native wood lily, L. Canadense, varying 

 from yellow to red. 



Lilium Henryi with very bright yellow, 

 brown-spotted flowers, is one of the most 

 desirable of the newer kinds. It is absolutely 

 hardy and increases freely. Although this 

 will cost you a trifle more than the most com- 

 mon lilies, it is well worth the money. Just 

 think of having lilies six feet tall crowned 

 with eight or more expanded flowers! 



Ground for lilies should be made moder- 

 ately rich and dry to a depth of two feet, as 

 they are deeper rooted than most bulbs. 

 Plant the bulbs about one foot deep. Some 

 people claim this is too deep, but I have 

 tried it nearly every depth and the ones I 

 planted twelve inches deep gave the best 

 satisfaction. Excessive rainfall must not 

 get at lily bulbs until they are fairly well 

 rooted. If your ground does not drain any 

 too well, place tar paper or something of 

 that description over the ground where the 

 bulbs are planted. 



The crown imperial (Fritillaria imperialis) 

 is useful for placing about rock gardens, in 

 clumps. It also does well in moderate shade. 

 The bulbs should be planted about four 

 inches deep. Don't scatter them around. 

 The flowers are red and yellow and are rather 

 attractive, borne at the top of a stalk two 

 to three feet high and crowned by a rosette 

 of leaves. The guinea hen flower (Fritillaria 



Meleagris) only a few inches high should be 

 used in the same manner. The colors are very 

 odd, some being dark green with purple 

 spots; nearly all the varieties are mottled or 

 spotted. The flowers of these fritillarias are 

 pendant and come in early spring. 



October is the month to plant lily of the 

 valley clumps for naturalizing in woodlands 

 or for effect in the garden. They are also 

 excellent in a shrubbery border as their 

 foliage helps to hide the bareness of the 

 ground, irrespective of their effectiveness in 

 spring when in flower. Plant the clumps 

 about one foot apart, just leaving the points 

 of the pips exposed. Cover them a trifle 

 the first winter, and they will grow in one 

 solid mass. I have planted them with hardy 

 ferns and they are very satisfactory, as they 

 form a carpet of grass beneath the ferns and 

 the ferns do not hide their grand show of 

 flowers in early spring, as they are then just 

 showing their soft velvety fronds. 



Because of their early flowering, ofttimes 

 before the snow has left the ground, snow- 

 drops are attractive. Plant in clumps, and 

 about three inches deep. The clumps will 

 keep increasing in size. Although not very 

 striking their little white bells are rather 

 attractive. They are very free-flowering 

 and the bulbs are cheap enough for any- 

 one, costing less than one cent each. They 

 look well when mixed with crocus, scillas, 

 or any of the early spring bulbs. 



Another very early spring-flowering bulb 

 is the little blue-flowered scilla. It is used 

 a great deal in rock gardens, as it can grow 

 and prosper on a spoonful of soil. Planted 

 in clumps and about four inches deep. 

 They are very hardy and require absolutely 

 no protection. They will also do well in 

 shaded situations. The most common one 



is the Siberian (S. Sibirica). S. campanu- 

 lata is larger, like a hyacinth, and can be had 

 in three shades — rose, white and blue. 



One of the most neglected of all bulbous 

 plants and one that is really worth some 

 attention, is the wood lily (Trillium grandi- 

 Jlorum) . There are very few locations where 

 trilliums won't thrive; they are not particular, 

 although they do best in a shaded, rather 

 moist location. The bulbs should be planted 

 about three inches deep and in clumps. 

 They are very hardy and require no protec- 

 tion. They do not increase rapidly, but 

 are worthy of a trial, as their pretty white 

 flowers, which gradually change to intense 

 pink, are very attractive. 



Some of the irises — those that are truly 

 bulbous — can be planted at this time, but 

 they will require a little protection. If well 

 cared for they soon grow into large clumps. 

 The English and Spanish irises are both 

 bulbous and they are both effective when 

 planted in clumps along a garden walk or 

 in the rock garden. The bulbs should be 

 planted about three inches deep. 



A good shade bulb is the autumn-flower- 

 ing crocus (Colchicum autumnale). It does 

 well under the shade of trees arid such places 

 where other things fail. They are several 

 colors and the flowers appear in early fall, 

 when flowers are rather a scarcity. The 

 bulbs should be planted now in clumps a 

 few inches apart and about three inches deep. 



The Glory of the Snow (Chionodoxa 

 Lucilia) is a pretty little early spring flower, 

 which is very hardy and is well adapted for 

 naturalizing in the wild garden or in the 

 rock garden. Plant in clumps a few inches 

 apart and about three inches deep. All 

 the kinds are blue and there is little to 

 choose between them. 



Little Bulbs for Little Purses— By Benjamin Goodrich, 



Conn- 

 ecticut 



EARLY SPRING FLOWERS FOR THE AMATEUR WHO HAS NOT ACCOMMODATION FOR THE 

 LARGER TULIPS, DAFFODILS "AND HYACINTHS —THEY COST BUT A FEW CENTS A HUNDRED 



THE gospel of planting small bulbs by 

 the thousand has been preached until 

 surely every flower amateur has the grounds 

 of his castle in the air fairly swept by great 

 springtime waves of blue, of gold and of 

 white. 



Now it is all very beautiful to dream of 

 myriads upon myriads of "flowers star- 

 scattered in the grass," but why not have 

 just a little of the reality? It is yours for 

 a price so small that you would be ashamed 

 to balance it with the result in the way of 

 sweet surprises at the time of the year when 

 the call of the garden comes. 



Were it not for my own observation I 

 should feel that I were harping on the per- 

 fectly obvious, but, as a plain matter of fact, 

 within my own range of experience no one 

 excepting myself is taking advantage of one 

 of the most delightful of springtime oppor- 

 tunities and having a small taste of the suc- 

 cession of little hardy bulbs in the borders. 

 All begin and end with the crocus, or come 



so near to it that in one settlement of nearly 

 three thousand people I doubt if I could find 

 the snowdrop or the scilla in half a dozen 

 gardens. If that is true in this one com- 

 munity, it is safe to say that it is at least 



Glory-or-the-Snow (Chionodoxa Lucilice) lias star- 

 like flowers of pure blue, a welcome color 



approximately true in no end of others. 

 Why? Simply because of lack of thought 

 at the right moment. 



This much has thought done for me; 

 from the eleventh of February until early 

 July my hardy borders have not been one 

 day without their pleasure from the little 

 bulbs that I planted last autumn and the 

 year before, where previously I, too, had 

 been content with the crocus. It was the 

 snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis), which ac- 

 tually blossomed in the snow, that began 

 it. Time was when this flower was tolerably 

 common, and it ought to be restored to every 

 garden. As with all small hardy bulbs, I 

 plant snowdrops in small clumps near the 

 edge of the borders, but scattered irregularly, 

 and let them thereafter take care of them- 

 selves. They can be bought for fifteen 

 cents the dozen or seventy-five cents the 

 hundred; I am not talking in thousands, 

 which are not for little purses. 



The squill, Scilla Sibirica, too, should be in 



