Notes Among the Flowers 

 in May 



By Mrs. Francis King, ^; c n h ' 



"Along the lawns the tulip lamps are lit" 



/ 



Some typical May blooming tulips: 

 Picotee, Isabella, Golden Crown, 

 Vitellina 



AN EVER-ASTONISHING thing to me 

 in gardening is the over-lapping of the 

 times of bloom in flowers. As I walk 

 about in May I am sure to see some in- 

 habitant of the borders up and doing earlier than I 

 think he should be. One is absorbed in what is al- 

 ready open; the budding of coming flowers goes 

 unnoticed and their little soft colorful cries for at- 

 tention come as a surprise. 



Under an ancient thorn, known to Professor 

 Sargent and a few others as Crataegus punctata — 

 a thorn which stands against old apple trees, and 

 which, as soon as the petals of apple blossoms have 

 fallen and disappeared, becomes a wreath of white 

 against the apple leaves — 

 under this blooming thorn 

 there stands in a bold group 

 the fine late tulip, flava. 

 This tulip has a way of fading 

 in curious and beautiful fash- 

 ion. In its first stage it is one 

 of the grandest and most 

 imposing of early flowers; its 

 bloom is held high in air; 

 its stem is absolutely erect; 

 its color a soft straw yellow; its 

 leaves very low, large, and of a 

 fine bluish green; the blooms 

 open wide, their four petals 

 at the top of the stalk, like 

 lilies held erect, and the inside of each petal seems 

 to take on a certain pallor toward the centre, leaving 

 an edge of deeper tone. The effect is indescribably 

 beautiful in its way; a tulip swan-song, thought I, 

 as I gazed. 



A fine tulip new to me last spring was Nauticas. 

 Here the color within the petals is Vin de Bordeaux 

 No. i, shading toward the upper edges to Rose lilace 

 No. 2.* The inner basal spots of Nauticas are of 

 Indigo grisatre No i, very striking in effect; and the 

 leaves of this tall tulip were of so rarely good a green 

 that even their color was recorded. It proved to be 

 a trifle darker than Vert bouteille No. 4. If any 

 reader wonders at my enthusiasm for this tulip, a 

 flower incomparable as it seems to me, let him place 

 next each other the color plates here mentioned, 

 imagine a finely rising stem and large broad leaves, 

 of the richest of greens, crowned by a rose-purple 

 flower of perfect form. He will wonder no more 

 that the tulip is thus commended. 



Of Zomerschoon the rare, the beautiful, I own but 

 a dozen bulbs. A detailed description from the 

 color chart is necessary as this wonder among tulips 

 has many colors. The upper outside of inner petals 

 shows Rouge d'Andrinople No. 1, but a trifle lighter 



*This and other exact color references, in Mrs. King's writ- 

 ings have reference to the Repertoire des Couleurs, issued 

 under the auspices of the French Chrysanthemum Society. 



than the shade in the plate. There is remarkable 

 life in this color as it appears in the tulip. Flamed 

 and feathered with a true-cream-white, with a 

 slightly bluish sheen on the centres of the outer 

 petals, the flower is of indescribable beauty. There 

 is not one to equal it for charm, for luscious combin- 

 ation of salmon and cream. It is never likely to 

 become plentiful, it is such a slow one to increase. 



Although we hear rumors of a possible shortage 

 for next season in tulips in violet lavender and bronze 

 tones, it is quite out of the question in these notes 

 to pass by one of these beauties. Mauve Clair, a 

 Darwin variety of unusual quality, is one of the best. 

 The general tone of this tulip is violet de Parme No. 

 1, while the flame or marking of the outer petals is 

 of Violet d'aconit, No. 1. Tulip Bouton d'Or, whose 

 yellow as seen in the French chart is Jaune cadmium 

 No. 1 , has a perfectly unvarying tone throughout the 

 flower. Thus I found several of these tulips; yet 

 again, with other blooms of Bouton d'Or, Jaune 

 chrome moyen No. 1. petals edged with No. 3 of 

 the same color, seemed a more perfect description. 

 I give the two for accuracy's sake. The black 

 anthers of Bouton d'Or add appreciably to its 

 interest. 



A tulip of far paler yellow than Bouton d'Or is 

 Moonlight, another cottage tulip, so elegant, so dis- 

 tinguished as to relegate Bouton d'Or at once to a 

 sort of tulip bourgeoisie. Moonlight is beautifully 

 named, with its pale tones of yellow and charmingly 

 proportioned flower. The general tone of Moonlight 

 in the chart is Jaune citron No. 1 or Jaune primavere 

 No. 1 ; Within its petals Jaune souffre No. 4 prevails. 



While among the yellow tulips, Sprengeri, the lat- 

 est of all tulips to bloom, must not be overlooked. 

 Tulipa Sprengeri, to be sure, is not yellow; it is an 

 orange-scarlet and thereby related to the yellows. 

 (Orange de Mars No. 2, edges of inner petals 

 Orange rougeatre No. 1.) The outside of each outer 

 petal is flamed through the centre with Rouge cuivre. 

 This tulip I have growing among close-packed roots 

 of a pearl-gray German iris, name unknown. The 

 two come into flower simultaneously; the tulip is 

 quite as tall as the iris, and the two flowers are strik- 

 ingly good together. Sprengeri grows taller with 

 me than any other tulip, Louis XIV alone excepted. 

 It is a persistent grower, too, appearing year after 

 year as do almost no others except Tulipa Gesner- 

 iana-, var. rosea, that gay and resolute little bloom 

 always so enchanting above forget-me-nots. 



Near Philadelphia last spring a marvelously 

 lovely combination of tulips and iris was to be seen. 

 A long, narrow bed had been made in the centre of a 

 similarly long and narrow piece of sward. This 

 straight line was a glowing band of German iris of the 

 richest purple-blue and of a brilliant yellow tulip set 

 in tall and ordered groups alternating in effective 

 fashion with the iris. Of the tulips there seemed to 



