148 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



NOVEMBEE, 1912 



pleasure in a few bulbs of this unique flower, 

 in its aspect of untouchedness! It cannot 

 be possible, one thinks, that the delicate 

 bands of green up and down its palest 

 yellow painted petals were not set there by 

 the skilful eye and brush of perhaps the 

 Japanese! 



Tulip The Fawn, a Darwin this, was 

 almost unbelievable in its beauty. No 

 description of it in print satisfies me. May 

 I here give my own? Pale amber to 

 cream-color outside, suffused with soft 

 pinkish lavender, the whole effect that of 

 a tea rose. Why not give it a subtitle — 

 the tea-rose tulip? And why not grow it 

 with that deep rich purple Darwin Faust? 

 The contrast between these two is tremend- 

 ously striking yet there is a certain harmony 

 of tone which allows of their dwelling to- 

 together not only in peace but in beauty. 



Gudin, a tall tulip of a pale mauve hue, 

 looking its best near a group of the stately 

 Innocence, was another of the wonders of 

 the spring. Orpheus, a charming flower 

 turning to warm rose in its last days; 

 Emerald Gem, oddly named when its 

 richest of salmon 

 blooms are consid- 

 ered, and which 

 with Orange Globe 

 should form a com- 

 bination of brilliant 

 color unsurpassed, 



is, is of a grayish green which makes the 

 flower a fit companion for the dusty miller 

 (Senecio Cineraria). The ixiolirion is one 

 of the bravest of bulbs, coming triumph- 

 antly through the bitter frosts of last win- 

 ter. Ixiolirion Pallasi is named as a good 

 one, and this I hope to try. The lasting 

 qualities of Ixiolirion in water is one of its 

 recommendations and because it is so very 

 perfect when cut, if used with sprays of 

 Deutzia Lemoineii — for daytime use on 

 the table, that is, for I have yet to find 

 the blue that can properly be used under 

 artificial light — I hope to let a quantity 

 of these beautiful waving things blow near 

 and before the low bushes of the deutzia 

 next spring. These will follow the tiny 

 Italian Tulipa Clusiana, whose slender 

 beauty grows dearer every year. Clusiana 

 is neighbored by Puschkinia and the two 

 are preceded by some species of crocus — 

 the Scotch, I think, var. C. biflorus pusillus. 

 So we achieve an uncommon spring 

 planting, delicate and lovely for weeks from 

 the end of April to the first of June, always 

 interesting whether the small flowers are 



Tulipa Gesneriana varieties iiave a special charm 

 of form and pure rich colors 



ously covered with their veils of white and 

 rose than this spring. It may have been 

 the gradually warming season, the unin- 

 terrupted progress 



and Dom Pedro, a Breeder tulip, a flower 

 of wonderful mahogany tones which I should 

 ever choose to see associated with Coridion, 

 lovely "clear yellow with stripe of lilac 

 through centre of petal." 



About June 3rd comes Ixiolirion macran- 

 tha, like a small lavender lily, with delicate 

 tubular flowers, as many as a dozen up and 

 down the graceful waving stem. The 

 leafage of this flower is scanty — what there 



Here is the well balanced color scheme finally endorsed 



coming or going — and if planted with 

 judgment and discrimination as to natural- 

 looking arrangement, regard to height and 

 color, we may without fear of disappoint- 

 ment think in December of the rare joys in 

 store for us in that spot when it shall have 

 been touched by the suns of spring. 



A charming happening has just taken 

 place in the borders. The bush honey- 

 suckles of Michigan were never more glori- 



A pleasing bit of color: Stachys lanata (silvery gray), pale pink Canterbury bell with baby's breath and 



iris foliage 



from leaf bud to 

 blossom; in any 

 case, the tale is the 

 same all about us — 

 the loniceras have 

 been remarkably 

 fine. Below a towering group of Lonicera, 

 var. bella albida, whose flowers in early 

 June are just passing, crowds of the 

 swaying long-spurred hybrid aquilegias 

 bloom and blow. Most of us now know 

 the unusual delicacy and range of eclor 

 in these charming flowers — faint pinks, 

 yellows, blues and lavenders — all pale 

 and poised as they are. 



But oh! to catch beyond, under the 

 shadow of the honeysuckle boughs as I did 

 but now, the sight of masses of blooming 

 pink scillas, Scilla campanulata, var. rosea, 

 at precisely the moment, in precisely the 

 place where its modest beauty was most 

 perfectly displayed — to have this as a sur- 

 prise, not a special plan — here was a pleas- 

 ure of a quality all too seldom felt and 

 known. Nothing could carry on and re- 

 peat the tones of the pink and lavender 

 aquilegias as does this loveliest of late 

 scillas. In appearance more like a tall 

 lily-of-the-valley than any other flower I 

 can call to mind, in tone so cool a pink that 

 it is perfect in combination with the blue, 

 lavender or pink columbines. It is en- 

 chanting as their neighbor and far more 

 interesting thus used than in the more 

 commonplace proximity to its cousin or 

 sister, the lavender Scilla campanulata, var. 

 excelsior, blooming at the same time. To 

 me it would be dull to see sheets of these 

 two spring flowers near each other or inter- 

 mingling. Dull, I mean, compared with 

 such a possibility as the combination I have 

 tried to describe and which was simply one 

 of those heavenly accidents befalling all too 

 rarely the ardent gardener. 



On this June day the buds in my garden 



