SPRING, FLOWERING CROCL 



thread that I must perforce weave over 

 and around every patch in this garden, 

 if I would have one blossom left perfect. 

 The Dutch Crocus is a plant for every- 

 body, and can scarcely be too freely 

 planted in borders, under deciduous 

 shrubs, and especially in grass that need 

 not be mown before May ; even a town 

 window-box should not be without it. 

 But when it is freely planted in agarden, 

 with good varieties of C. vermis such as 

 Mont Blanc , Madame Mina, and pur- 

 pur eus gra?tdiflorus ad ded , there will yet 

 be in the smallest garden room for a few 

 at least of the other sixty-eight described 

 species and their numerous varieties. 



To pass over, for the present, the 

 autumnal Croci, why wait until mid- 

 February at least when, 

 Early Kinds, by selecting a well- 

 drained and sunny cor- 

 ner, we may in the early days of Janu- 

 ary enjoy the blooms of C. Imperati, 

 with their strange chameleonic change 

 from pale yellow buds to bright lilac 

 open blossoms ? For many years I have 

 never failed to find a few flowers of C, 

 chrysanthus on New Year's Day, and 

 C. Sieberi is seldom more than a week 

 later here ; and there are others that, 

 with a little overhead protection against 

 rain such as a handlight will afford, will 

 in a fairly open winter keep up a con- 

 stant succession from the time that the 

 later autumnal species are overwhelmed 

 by bad weather in the open borders. 



It is, in fact, impossible 



succeTsL. to sa y which is the first 



spring Crocus, for now 

 we have in cultivation various forms 

 that with a little care and attention 



om 



should give a blossoming season fr 

 the end of August until April. The 

 beautiful though small orange species, 

 I C. vitellinus, used to be the connecting 

 link between the last Icevigatus and hye- 

 malis and the first C. Imperati, and the 

 question could be raised as to whether 

 it is the last autumnal or the first vernal 

 kind ; but the recently introduced C. 

 caspius has so far fulfilled its reputation 

 of blossoming from autumn until spring, 

 that here, in a cold frame, it has been 

 constantly in flower from October till 

 mid-February and still shows unopened 

 buds. 



My hope in penning these lines is to 

 induce others to grow and derive en- 

 joyment from some of the less known, 

 but certainly more reflned'forms of this 

 lovely genus. I fear that] those repre- 

 sented in the accompanying plate,drawn 

 in Miss Willmott's garden at Warley, 

 will for many a day remain too scarce 

 to be found in many gardens ; but in 

 most catalogues may be found forms of 

 C. Imperati, chrysanthus, tomasinianus, 

 Sieberi, and biflorus, at quite reasonable 

 prices, and all these are of the greatest 

 value as being early flowering and easy 

 to grow. 



Although — so great is the effect of 

 a very slight change of environment — 

 it is often useless to tell 

 Culture. even your nearest neigh- 

 bour your planfor grow- 

 ing a plant, yet some broad rules for 

 culture may be useful. I find here that 

 most Croci enjoy rooting down into a 

 somewhat retentive loamy soil but pre- 

 fer to have that which immediately sur- 

 rounds their corms of a gritty nature, 



