278 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



blooming and endurance. Hyacinthus azureus is a gem of 

 rather recent introduction. Scilla bifolia is always impatient 

 to produce its lovely sprays of blue, but it passes away all too 

 quickly. I may fairly include Iris reticulata in this division ; it 

 has thoroughly established itself at Belvoir, growing freely and 

 blooming abundantly in beds of light loam and granite grit. A 

 plant so perfectly hardy, and rivalling many Orchids in its rich 

 colouring of purple and orange, should be in every garden. Iris 

 stylosa is also beautiful and early, but its blooms are sparingly 

 produced. 



There is no plant better known or more highly valued than 

 the Violet, and the Russian Violet may be said to belong to the 

 winter as well as the spring, and no denizen of the early garden 

 more readily responds to springtide warmth than the Violet, and 

 no flower's appearance is hailed with more satisfaction. I 

 cannot omit it from my list, and I need not dilate on the merits 

 of a plant so well known, nor must I fail to record my sense of 

 its value in spring gardening ; its presence is felt in its fragrance. 

 Its effective disposal is always worth consideration. I place it 

 near the approaches to the flower-gardens, under trees, on banks, 

 in borders, and in any sheltered place. The wild Violet loves the 

 sunny side of the hedgerow, and that is a good hint for growers. 

 I plant fresh clusters every year, and these are grown in the 

 slips of the kitchen garden. It is a mistake, if you wish early 

 and good blooms, to leave a plant for two years in succession in 

 the same ground ; its habit of throwing out runners tells that it 

 requires change of ground. Bare spaces under large evergreen 

 trees — Cedars, for example — might profitably be covered with 

 Violets. My best beds are thus placed. 



These floral results of our spring season may justly be a 

 source of satisfaction to all interested in gardening. I have 

 named, without exhausting our resources in early plants, about a 

 score belonging to February and early March, and there are 

 probably three times that number to be named for the two succeed- 

 ing months, April and May ; and I may say that my experience 

 in the cultivation of these plants has not been gained in Cornwall 

 or Devon, or even in Kent or Sussex, but in a north midland 

 county characterised by a cold clay soil and great reaches of 

 pasture-land, but the shelter of ranges of woodland has given 

 advantages which equalise our position in some respects with 

 exposed places in more favoured parts of England. 



