November, 1912 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



147 



L. eiegans. easily grown, comes in a number of 

 varieties from red to yellow, perfectly hardy 



in the ground and often a short distance 

 above it. A manurial topdressing is most 

 beneficial to these stem roots, in inducing 

 vigor of growth and conserving the soil 

 moisture. For the same reason partial 

 shade is beneficial to all, though not essen- 

 tial to many, but particularly so to the 

 extent that they may be so planted with 

 associated plants that will help to shade 

 the ground surface and thus afford some 

 protection from the scorching summer sun. 



SOME LILY COMBINATIONS 



For example, lilies and peonies are a sug- 

 gestive possible combination. Peonies 

 have to be widely planted to permit perfect 

 leaf growth and they might be most 

 advantageously interplanted with lilies, 

 which flower later in the season and would 

 be decidedly benefited by the shade cast 

 upon the ground. A bed or group so 

 planted in soil previously deeply dug and 

 prepared would need no further care or 

 labor beyond weeding and topdressing for 

 at least ten years. This is flower gardening 

 of the most permanent and least expensive 

 kind. The first cost is the only cost and 

 even this cost need not exceed the amount 

 that is often paid for a very temporary 

 flower display of a short season's duration. 

 Lilies, too, are happy in association with 

 some of the choicer shrubs as rhododen- 

 drons, azaleas, or any others not so ram- 

 pant as to appropriate all the soil moisture 

 and this suggests another disposition of 

 them in pretty ways, informally grouped 

 and permanently attractive. 



L. Henryi. orange yellow, is perfectly hardy and 

 increases rapidly. A valuable August flower 



Color Arrangements for Darwin Tulips and Other 



Spring-flowering Bulbs — By Mrs. Francis King 



ACT ON THESE SUGGESTIONS NOW, AND HAVE RARE COLOR PICTURES IN YOUR GARDENS 

 NEXT YEAR — THERE IS JUST TIME TO DO THE PLANTING BEFORE WINTER COMES 



T BELIEVE I shall always remember this 

 -*- last May as the Darwinian May. As 

 the mention of this adjective is doubtless 

 music to the ear of the scientist, so its 

 sound is equally delectable to the possessor 

 and lover of the Darwin tulips. In a bit 

 of writing appearing some time ago in this 

 journal, I set down a list of Darwins ar- 

 ranged for color combination, taken from a 

 fine English source. These I tried for the 

 first time this year; and I assure the reader 

 when I saw them I fell down and wor- 

 shipped. A pageant of color, a marvellous 

 procession of flowery grandeur — no words 

 are mine in which to tell of my sensations 

 on seeing this beauty for the first time; and 

 the sensations were not mine alone. They 

 were shared by all those who saw them, 

 among them some sophisticated eyes, eyes 

 which might not show delight without good 

 cause. 



The color arrangement proved not so 

 good as I had hoped. And thanks to an 

 ingenious guest, we rearranged for next 



year in this fashion. One tulip of each 

 variety was cut and labelled with a slip of 

 paper. These cut tulips were then placed 

 in the open spaces of the rattan or cane seat 

 of a Chinese chair, the large flowers resting 

 against the back and sides of the chair. 

 The round openings in the woven cane 

 exactly admitted the stiff stems of the 

 Darwins; the background of basket-looking 

 stuff was most becoming to the gay flowers, 

 and at our leisure, seated in comfort before 

 our tulip galaxy we arranged and re- 

 arranged till the following plan evolved 

 itself — a plan of which I append a rather 

 feebly drawn chart — a plan, however, 

 which I recommend with my whole heart, 

 a Darwinian theory less abstruse if not 

 more certain in its outcome than that 

 of him in whose honor these noble spring 

 flowers ^e named. 



Another probably successful arrangement 

 of spring flowers suggests itself. Why 

 should not the tall lemon-colored blooms of 

 Tulipa vitelline show back of rather close 



groupings of Scilla campanulata's lavender 

 bells, while the tender yellow of Alyssum 

 saxalile, var. sulphureum creates a charming 

 foreground? The three flowers bloomed 

 with me this year at the same time, and I 

 cannot but advise a trial planting of them 

 together — say a dozen of the tulips, fifty 

 scillas, and six or seven roots of the beauti- 

 ful hardy alyssum and you have a picture 

 which a true "garden soul" will feel beneath 

 the ground in winter. This could be done 

 in a spot apart, a bit of ground sacred to 

 adventures in flowers. 



And while' we are on adventures in 

 flowers, may I impart a few impressions of 

 some tulips seen this spring for the first 

 time? Really revelations — some of them 

 unspeakably beautiful. Coming, for in- 

 stance, unexpectedly upon Tulipa viridi- 

 flora was like coming upon a specially 

 beautifully green and white trillium in a 

 wood. This tulip has that precious look 

 of not having been evolved. Yet it is a 

 May-flowering or cottage tulip. What 



