THE GARDEN PRIMER 



down and drying out of their leaves. Never cut the 

 leaves away, by- the- way, however badly they may offend 

 the fastidious eye, for they are necessary to the bulb's 

 maturing. Let them die and shrivel up and dry away 

 of themselves. Other things should grow in the bor- 

 ders with bulbous plants to hide this unsightly period. 



Usually a better effect is produced wilh a quantity 

 of any one kind of bulb than with single plants though 

 there are some things, notably Iris, that are luxuriant 

 enough in habit to be used in solitary clumps. Cro- 

 cuses, Daffodils, Snowdrops, Hyacinths, Narcissi, 

 Tulips, LiKes and Iris are probably the most familiar 

 bulb plants, and the ones most commonly planted. No 

 planting is really complete however that does not in- 

 clude, in addition to these, the heavenly b'ue and dainty 

 Squills, the old evil-smelling but stately Crown Im- 

 perials, and the Wood lily or ^'Wake-robin." And 

 there are also Star of Bethlehem and Dog's-tooth 

 violet which ought to be everywhere. 



Of all these the Snowdrops and the Squills are the 

 only ones that will actually bear naturalizing in close cut 

 lawns, notwithstanding the fact that Crocuses are so 

 often recommended for this purpose and so frequently 

 planted. The frequent mowing of a lawn is too much 

 for them, and though they may survive for some time, 

 they will not hold their own but will eventually die out. 

 The Squills and the Snowdrops however, do not seem 

 to mind in the least — they are earlier than the Crocus 

 in many places anyway — and not only maintain them- 

 selves but multiply and spread, in spite of the lawn- 



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