May 17. nit. 
JOURNAL OF HORTTCULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
377 
T he month of smiles and tears passed away after yielding us 
in the north more of the delights of sunshine than of those 
frequent showers which refresh the earth. Still there was 
sufficient rain for the needs of the spring flowers, and now May 
has well advanced the garden is bright with bloom. My small 
front garden is aglow with colour softened by the green leaves 
of the Daffodils and other bulbous flowers and the fresh foliage 
of the taller herbaceous plants. In it I strive to keep in mind the 
idea of a late well-known horticulturist, that a front plot belonged 
partly to the public, and so endeavour to have flowers at all seasons. 
At no time does it look brighter than when Aubrietias, Arabis, 
Alyssums, and Tulips, with other flowers of many kinds, are in 
perfection. 
I am not ashamed to say that I have a “ Dutch love for Tulips,” 
as Lord Tennyson put it, and take pleasure in these cups of brilliant 
colour which are the products of the florist’s skill as well as the 
many beautiful species now at our command. Still I must qualify 
this by the reservation that I have no love for the double ones, 
although I grow a few, and think the perfect form of some of the 
singles, either in bud or when open, the more delightful. A good 
single Tulip which, though old, is said to be coming into fashion 
again I have had for a number of years, and as it increases well I 
have now many in my garden. This is Golden Eagle, a fine yellow 
Tulip with pointed petals, but still of beautiful form and much 
admired by all who see it. The flowers open yellow at first, but 
the edges of the petals soon become tinged with scarlet, which 
deepens in colour and broadens in size. In any stage it is very 
pretty, and in the mixed border of hardy flowers makes a fine effect. 
Very beautiful, too, in the front row of a border is the little Tulipa 
linifolia, which was introduced eight years ago, but is still too 
seldom seen. Its normal height is said to be about 6 inches, but in 
my garden it is only 5 inches from the ground to the top of the 
flower. The leaves are very narrow, and the flowers are large in 
proportion to the size of the plant. The inside of the flower is of 
a very brilliant scarlet with a jet black zone at the base, while the 
outside is of a duller scarlet with a creamy yellow tinge at the top 
of each petal. It is one of the few Tulips which would not be out 
of place on a select rockery, if so surrounded that its slight stiffness 
of habit common to most Tulips would be modified by adjoining 
plants. Very fine, too, for the rockery or front of the border is 
the beautiful little yellow T, persica, a great favourite of mine, 
which in the sun opens out nearly flat, and is of a brilliant yellow. 
But one must not allow these splendid flowers to monopolise all 
their space, especially as lovers of the justly admired English Tulip 
have had something to say of their blooms. 
Valued, I suppose, more for its comparative rarity than for its 
beauty is the white-flowered Quamasb, Camassia esculenta alba. I 
am referring to it now not to recommend it, but to warn those 
who may see it in catalogues not to expect anything nearly so fine 
as the typical blue Quamash, now so cheap. I have had the white 
one for more than four years, and each year finds me less desirous 
of retaining it in the garden. White it may be called for courtesy’s 
sake, but when, as here, grown near the beautiful Poet’s Narcissus, 
snowy Arabis, Ilutcbinsia alpina, or the pure spikes of the white 
Honesty, the whiteness is seen to be not even creamy white, but 
one of a greenish hue, far from pleasing to the eye. It is one of 
No. 725.—VoL. XXVHI., TmiiD Series. 
the flowers we can well spare. The mention of the white variety 
of the common Honesty reminds me that this flower is worthy of 
some little attention. If, as the old proverb tells us, the Honesty 
or “ Money in both Pockets ” will only grow in the gardens of 
honest people, I suppose no further certificate of my possession of 
that virtue will be needed than a look into my garden, where it has 
only been once sown in the last ten years. It becomes one of those 
“ weeds ” requiring not merely thinning out, but wholesale 
destruction. Very fine it is, however, with its purple or white 
spikes of flower succeeded by the curious orbicular seed vessels, 
which, when dried and the covering removed, are so useful 
for decorations with their silvery pods. This, again, reminds 
me of the perennial Lunaria rediviva, which is scarce. Twice 
have I seen seed catalogued, and twice have I failed to get it 
when ordered. 
Some time ago I spoke of Lithospermum purpureo-coeruleum*^ 
What I said of the plant hardly accorded with the opinion of a 
well-known grower of alpines, who in the course of some corre¬ 
spondence told me that I had hardly done justice to this Grom- 
well. I had not been quite so successful in flowering it as I should 
have been, and was consequently less inclined to praise its merits. 
This year it came into flower about the middle of April, and its 
appearance leads me to confess that my scant praise was too faint, 
and did less than justice to its beauty. I feel assuied, however, 
that a further reference to it will be of value should it lead to 
this flower receiving more attention than hitherto. It seems to 
prefer a little lime in the soil, as I am disposed to attribute its- 
greater beauty this year to the addition of some old mortar to tho 
earth in which my plant is grown. Here it grows about 15 inches 
high. The flowers, which are in terminal racemes, are purple at 
first and pass to bright blue. In order to induce flowering the 
long, prostrate, barren stems should be pinched off. As I now 
have it in flower, this Gromwell is not to be despised even when 
grown in the same garden as L. prostratum, L. Gastoni, and 
L. graminifoiium. 
The alpine Phloxes are most beautiful at present, trailing over 
stones on the rockeries or stone edgings to the garden walks. I 
have about a dozen different species and varieties, and one of the 
prettiest and freest flowering of these is a variety of P. subulata 
or setacea, which originated in an Irish nursery, and has been 
named Newry Seedling. It is a pity that some other and more 
attractive name was not given to this alpine Phlox, with its 
pretty lilac flowers covering the plant with beauty, and of good 
constitution and free growth. My plant is growing on a rockery 
facing west, and is much admired by all who see it. Very 
beautiful, too, is the neatest and best of the Hedge Mustards, 
Erysimum pumilum, growing on the same rockery as Phlox 
Newry Seedling. It grows to 3 inches in height, and the little 
patch in a pocket filled with sandy peat and grit is covered with 
small sulphur-coloured fragrant flowers, so freely produced as 
to hide the foliage. This dwarf Hedge Mustard, although a 
native of Europe, and introduced in 1823, is still too seldom seen 
in alpine collections. 
Using the word in other than its generally accepted sense we 
may say, however, that the glory of the garden now consists not 
in the brilliant Tulips nor in the flowers of the alpine garden, but 
in the strangely beautiful flowers of Iris lupina. This “Wolf’s 
Fur Iris,” which has been in my garden for two years, came into 
flower here for the first time on April 28th. Its flowering just 
when one was about to despair of succeeding in this climate and 
soil with these Cushion Irises will, I suppose, have the effect of 
inducing mo to add to the few of the Oncocyclus section I have up 
till now been content to struggle in vain to induce to bloom. The 
opening of such a flower marks a red-letter day in the annals of 
the hardy flower garden, and one would fain speak worthily of the 
wonderful colouring of its bloom. It seems in vain, however, to 
attempt it, and I must unwillingly yet gratefully be indebted to 
No. 2381.—VoL. XC., Old Series. 
