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June 18 1891. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
481 
\ 
A ccording to a Devonshire pixy story, given by Mrs. Bray in 
her letters to Robert Southey, and quoted at length in Friend’s 
■“ Flowers and Flower Lore,” a beautiful bed of Tulips in an old 
woman’s garden seems to have attracted the admiration of the 
pixies, and, as night came round, the little creatures were wont to 
bring their elfin babies to the Tulips, and making use of the flowers 
as cradles would lull their offspring to sleep. This accomplished 
the pixies would return to the neighbouring fields and spend the 
night in dancing round their fairy rings. At the dawn of day they 
•would return to the Tulips, and although still invisible could be 
beard kissing and caressing their babies. Thus favoured, the 
Tulips flourished and lasted long in flower, and the old woman is 
said to have guarded them with such jealous care that she would 
not allow a flower to be pulled. At her death her successor, who 
was evidently of an utilitarian turn of mind, destroyed the 
favoured flowers, and in their place planted a bed of Parsley, 
which so enraged the pixies that for many years nothing would 
grow in the garden. The sight of some florist Tulips nodding 
their heads in the breeze recalled this story to my mind, and did 
we live in a more credulous age one could only say that the pixies 
had chosen magnificent couches for their baby elves. What human 
infant had e’er a cradle like these ? Ransack the warehouses for 
Si fabrics of the richest colour and design, and nothing can be found 
which will bear comparison with the beautiful texture and the 
stripes and markings of these magnificent flowers. And yet our 
poets have, as a rule, dealt unkindly blows at such noble flowers. 
Churchill says :— 
“ The Tulip idly glaring to the view. 
Who, tho’ no clown, his birth from Holland drew. 
When well full-dressed, fears from his place to stir ; 
The fop of flowers—the More of a parterre.” 
And Pope, whose words I dare hardly quote, lest I should incur 
the displeasure of the fair sex, says ;— 
“ Ladies, like variegated Tulips, show 
’Tis to their changes half their charms we owe.” 
Our later poets have, however, been more appreciative of the 
noble flower, but at present I must forbear further quotations, 
j These florists’ flowers are so fine that the hardy plantsman finds 
it somewhat difficult to resist their blandishments. Unless 
^ possessed, however, of ample space, and, as a necessary corollary, 
I sufficient assistance in the garden, he must not permit himself to 
‘ fall a victim to the fascination of florist flowers of any kind lest 
t he should unduly encroach upon the ever-increasing space 
demanded by his hardy plants. Thus it is that my late Tulips are 
few in number, but when we come to the species which own 
Nature as their raiser, one may indulge somewhat in their 
I cultivation. 
First among the various species I have grown or seen I must 
" place Tulipa Greigi, which is of surpassing beauty. The typical 
' form of this Central Asian species might well be accounted worthy 
, of being chosen—as a kindred congener has been selected—by the 
I Persian youth as the emblem of his love and affection. When a 
• young Persian presents a Tulip to a maiden he signifies that, like 
1 the flower, his countenance is as fire and his heart reduced to a coal. 
Speaking seriously, however, and without the use of hyperbole, I 
No. 573. —Yol. XXII., Third Series. 
know of no flower so brilliant as this. The scarlet of the flower is 
so fine, the petals of such substance, and the rich gloss on the flower 
so glass-like, that the plant hardly needs the dark stripes or spots 
on the leaves to aid in its adornment. 
I am surprised that this dwarf large-flowered Tulip is not more 
frequently met with. The species is extremely variable, and 
several varieties have either been selected or raised from seed. 
These have been offered at a comparatively high price, and the 
only one I have grown besides that known as the type is 
T.Greigi aurea, which is of a magnificent yellow, and has in place cf 
the black base of the type slight markings of crimson internally. 
Blooming at the same time was the curious South European species 
T. Celsiana, which grows about 6 inches high, and has solitary bright 
yellow flowei’s, which look somewhat like an imniense yellow 
Crocus. On first opening they are almost horizontal, but are after¬ 
wards quite erect. This species is very showy on rockwork. 
Another curious Tulip at present in flower is T. carinata violacea, 
growing with me about IG inches in height. It is by no means 
brilliant, having triangular-shaped flow^ers with short petals of a 
purplish-red with a green stripe up the outside of each. Inside 
the petals are bright red with a greenish yellow base. I have been 
unable to discover the native habitat of this species, which does 
not seem to be named in the “ Cottage Gardeners’ Dictionary,” or 
any other book of reference in my possession. 
Very fine, too, is the comparatively new T. Billietiana, which is 
about 18 inches high, with pretty, wavy foliage, more undulated 
than that of any other species I am acquainted with. The flowers 
on opening are bright sulphur outside, brighter yellow inside, with 
a faint zone of orange scarcely half-way up the petals. This 
becomes gradually deeper, and the outer petals become tinged with 
orange. Another very showy kind is T. maculata major, which is 
deep crimson inside, with fine black blotches and a yellow zone. 
The outer petals have more of a pink hue. This grows with me 
about 20 inches in height. 
Several others might be spoken of, such as the dwarf but 
showy T. persica, the brilliant T. oculus solis, the splendid 
T. Gesneriana, the parent of the florists’ varieties, the dwarf 
T. linifolia, and others : but enough has, I think, been said to 
draw some attention to these interesting flowers, so much 
neglected of late years, and which offer a wide field for the 
hardy plant lover. 
But the Tulips must not engross all our attention, and the 
natural order Ranunculacese furnishes us with flowers equal in 
brilliancy, and perhaps superior in elegance to the Tulips. 
Among the Anemones will be found flowers of sui passing 
beauty and simplicity of culture, and of these there are possibly 
none equal to the varieties of A. coronaria. There are now 
many good strains in the market, but I have found none surpass 
that known as the St. Brigid strain, from which will be raised 
flowers of endless variety of colour and form, some of the semi¬ 
doubles being particularly fine. It seems doubtful to what 
flower Shakespeare referred in “Venus and Adonis” when he 
says :— 
“ By this, the boy that by her side lay kill’d 
Was melted like a vapour from her sight. 
And in his blood that on the ground lay spill’d 
A purple flower sprung up, chequer’d with white, 
Besembling well his pale cheeks, and the blood 
Which in round drops upon their whitenees stood.” 
In any case the memory of the beautiful boy could not be 
more worthily enshrined than in the Anemone, and we are 
content, even at the sacrifice of some conflicting opinions, to 
accept it as the flower which sprung from the blood of Adonis, 
and the white Wood Anemone as that which was produced by 
the tears of Venus. 
The Crown Anemones do not appear to have succeeded so 
well this season in this locality. My plants have, however. 
No. 222f'.—Y ol. LXXXIY., Old Seriel 
