Atjgust 31, 1912 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



663 



HYACINTHS IN THE 

 FLOWER GARDEN. 



Hyacinths are subjects of great possi- 

 bilities in the flower garden, and yet^ when 

 wrongly used, they are not only uninter- 

 esting, but productive of eflPects the re- 

 verse of pleasing. Some object to them 

 because of their stiffness of gro\\i:h and 

 artificiality of appearance, and there is 

 something to be said for their point of 

 view. When, howex^er, all has been said 

 whiojh can be vsaid in support of 

 it, the faet remains that, in some 

 respects, the hyacinth is one of the 

 hardiest and most easily-grown of our 

 spring flowers, and, next to tulips, perhaps 

 the most attractive, so that it is not likely 

 to be supplanted in popidar favour. The 

 question for us to consider is the best way 

 to use it in the flower garden, so as to 



only, as one often sees in public parks and 

 gardens, are almost offensive to anyone 

 with a good colour sense. The variety 

 of shades is so numerous that anyone who 

 professes to be a colourist can find full 

 scope for the display of his taste in plan- 

 ning harmonies and contrasts. It is well 

 to bear in mind Kuskin's dictum tliat 

 " the character of everything is best mani- 

 fested by contrast," for the full beauty 

 of some of the delicate shades of starch 

 blue, for instance, can otdy be realised 

 when they are shown up b}' others of a ])ale 

 yellow colour as a foil. 



Anotlier matter that needs scaicelv less 

 consideration than the arranging of the 

 colours of the hvacinths is the selection of 

 carpeting ])lants, or those of low growth, 

 for planting amongst them. In a statt* 

 of Nature one never sees bidlxs flower- 

 ing in a setting of bare earth un- 

 less in thick woods, where only sjjring- 



l^eing very effective r^mongst the pinks and 

 reds, and also the blues, when good strong 

 plants are obtained in the autumn. Other 

 good surfacing plants for certain colours 

 of bull)s are Silene compacta, Myosotis dis- 

 sitiflora, red and white daisies, primroses, 

 aubrietias, some of the t^arlier-flowering 

 violas, and small hulhs, sui-h as grape hya- 

 cinths, Scilla sibirica, and chiono<loxa. 

 These last-named bulbs make capital edg- 

 ings for hyacinth be<ls of suitable colours, 

 and are not only verj' effective in them- 

 selves, but serve to lessen the abrupt transi- 

 tion l>etween thp. turf and the compara- 

 tivelv tall ";rowth of the hvacinths. When 



* ■ 



otlier bulbs are ])hintefl amongst the 

 latti'r difl"erent sm i acing snhjiH'ts should 

 he u^"m| wiih iht'ui ;is w'ell, in order to 

 r<'lit*\c tilt' hart^icss of the beds in the 

 winter. 



A method of 



growing 

 whicli appeals to some 



hvacinths in beds, 

 on account of its 



A CHARMING COMBINATION 



PINK HYAC?INTHS AND WHITE ARABIS 



In the Gardens of Hampton Court in April last. 



obtain the most beautiful and effective 

 residts. 



First, and perhaps mainly, we will deal 

 with the use of 



growmg 



h 



Hyacinths in Bed 



*9 



which will include any border or plot in 

 which they are the main feature. One 

 most commonly sees hyacinths growing in 

 rows in bare earth, and it is then that 

 the}^ are uninteresting and artificial, the 

 soldier-like rows au<l the bare ground l>eing 

 alike unnatural. Another wrono: method 

 IS the indiscriminate mixture of colours, 

 for some of the pink and red shades are 

 very crude, the latter especially, and can- 

 not be put in juxtaposition with the dark 

 blues and purples. If there is a good pro- 

 portion of white and yellow varieties in 

 the mixture the clash of colours is mini- 

 nnsed, but beds of blue and retl vai it tios 



plants can survive. The sur- 

 facing plants on hyacinth beds slioiihl 

 ?e beau tit nl in theni'sch t^s and onliamc 

 the 'beauty ot tin- hnllt^ by tluMr ^<'t- 

 ting, while from 0( toluM- to Ma n h they 

 should transform what wouUl otherwise be 

 bare earth into neatly-planted l)eils. To 

 give the plants a fair chance in the spring 

 the btdbs should be plant^l rather further 

 apart than is usually done when they are 

 the only occupants of the Ix-ds. The 

 double white ai-abis is always good for this 

 purpose— and so is the single, a,s it flowers 

 earlier- -no matter what tlie colour of the 

 principal suhje<t, and when the brighter 

 reds are used it is perhaps the best sur- 

 facing plant that can be grown, as it helps 

 to tone tliem down. A jiretty little annnal 

 that answers very well for the sani<v pur- 

 pose is Linniauthes Dougla.^i. or its v;u'ioty 

 t'landiih^ra, tln^ vellow and white flowers 



4 



apparent greati r nearness to Nature, is 

 to <.-onihino them wiih other things, so that 

 insteail of l)eing hyacinth l>eds primarily 

 other plants, etc.,' are of equal import- 

 ance in the scheme. Those who object to 

 the stiffness in the appearance of a bed 

 of hyacinths alone, even when it is well 

 surface<l, may relieve it, e.g., by mixing 

 narcissi or tulips with them. Here again 

 is an opiK)rtunity for study in colour, a 

 bed of star<-h blue and chamois or salmon 

 hyacinths, mixfxl with yellow tulips or nar- 

 cissus, pr(Mlucing a feast of colour of which 

 the eves do not tire, hut it n*'e<ls care in 

 tlio selection of th*^ varieties to have them 

 in flower nt the samt^ time, for if the 

 liv:u"inths jii e begiiniing to fade, even after 

 the tuli]>s have bi'cu out a wtM-k, the dura- 

 tion of the primi^ is h^ssened by at 

 least half. A nuxtnre of hya<iulhs and 

 wallflowers ~a pretty good range of colour 



