"0 



THE CENTl'kW BOOK OF GARDENING. 



March — even before — and continues to appear, in one or other of its forms, until the gleaming 

 silvery white of the Poet's Narcissus is seen no more. Where the soil, a cool loam, suits 

 the Daffodils, it is wise to establish them everywhere. One never tires of the flowers, 

 so fresh in the spring sun, or seen in deeper shade in the cool retreat of copse and 

 shrubbery. The Star Narcissi, chiefly of the Incomparabilis group, should be freely used, 

 but the bicolors and Trumpet Daffodils may be established also, finishing the season with the 

 Narcissus poeticus. 



How beautiful is a meadow of Poet's Narcissus in the early May, as sweet in England as 

 in the hill meadows of the Pyrenees, and lasting for some weeks in cool seasons. Thin 

 groups are more enjoyable than thick-set masses, so thick' that one may imagine the planter 

 was thinking more of the beds upon the lawn than the meadow, where Nature makes open groups, 

 irregular, without set form, artless, winding colonies, as if patches of white foam had been 

 blown hither and thither. In a hundred English gardens the possibilities of creating pictures of 

 flowers in the grass are great, and in time the bulbs will become naturalised, no longer requiring 

 further attention than to wait until the foliage has died down before mowing. When a meadow 

 of Daffodils, or, indeed, of any flower, is mown over before the leaves have finished growth, 

 the bulbs gradually disappear from sheer weakness through this yearly disturbance. 



Those who have no meadow-lands to plant in this way should still use the 

 Daffodil freely, practising another form of wild gardening, if such it may be called. Daffodils 

 rarely disappoint; they seek' shade as well as sunshine, and flower as freshly in the shrubbery 



margin as in the open bed upon the lawn. 

 Plant them bv woodland walk and fringe 

 of copse — anywhere colour is desired in 

 the early spring. 



Flowers found wild in meadows 

 represent families that may be used some- 

 times with freedom in the meadow. To 

 despoil the native flora for the sake of 

 beautifying the garden is sinful. There 

 is no necessity to disturb the peace of 

 the meadow and wayside, but grow them 

 in some reserve place, or purchase them 

 from those who make, so to say, farms of 

 these meadow flowers. The Fritillarv, 

 or Snake's-head, in its infinite variety is 

 t^&)||[!ir ImT^L l A ■*^aJ0WlQ)ffr* J full o1 graceful charm, the large nodding 



j^PEy* ^ill^jTNjf ^jt f ^j. llowers appearing above the grass, and 



s AM l^^^HHtflA " ■ there is much change of colour, some- 



times almost pure white, or purple, 

 chequered with darker or paler shades. 

 This Snake's-head is a flower so happily 

 placed in grass that it should be established 

 freely, if not in the meadow then in 

 distinct groups upon the fringes of the 

 pleasure grounds, or in nook's in the 

 shrubbery, where one may enjoy the quaintly poised and coloured flowers. The Muscaris, 

 or Grape Hyacinths, to use their English name, seem a race little cared for, though 

 many of the flowers are blue as a summer sky. But they are a success in shady places, 

 upon rough banks and in thin grass. M. conicum, which has very deep blue flowers, 

 is as rich and strong as any of them, the bulbs increasing fast, and in time forming a thick' mat, 

 surfaced with fragrant bloom in spring. It is always well to select a few good kinds and give 



BL VEliELLS. 



