BULBS 



Narcissus. — This as the most effective of all bulbous 

 plants for naturalising in the wild garden merits earliest 

 notice. Beautiful pictures may be obtained by planting 

 distinct varieties by the thousands in meadows, orchards, 

 parks and open woodland glades. The advantage of 

 these and other spring-blooming bulbs is that they 

 flower before the grass commences to grow, and their 

 leaves are withered before hay-making time, so that 

 they may be planted in fields laid down to grass without 

 interfering with the annual mowing. Planting is easily 

 accomplished by raising the turf with the spade, placing 

 the bulb in the cut made and treading back the sod. 

 Care should be taken that the groups are informal in 

 outline. Too often Narcissi may be observed planted in 

 lines, circles, oblongs, ovals, or in little clumps at equal 

 distances apart. Such arrangement entirely banishes 

 all semblance of the natural effect which it should be 

 the aim of the planter to produce. "When blossoming, 

 the flowers should appear like cloud-drifts on the grass, 

 closely massed towards the central line of the group 

 and more sparsely scattered at its verge, with here and 

 there an outlying colony distant a pace or two from the 

 main body. On no account should mixed collections be 

 naturalised, since these exhibit such diversity of height, 

 colour, habit and time of flowering that they create no 

 sense of repose but rather one of irritating patchiness. 

 Groups should be composed of a single variety and 

 should be arranged at a sufficient distance apart for one 

 to form a picture by itself. This does not apply to 



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