April 9, 1904. 
THE GARDENING WORLD . 
299 
Round the Nurseries. 
Messrs. Barr and Sons. 
There can be no question that spring flowers are amongst the 
most popular in the garden, which they serve to cheer after a. 
long and dull winter of monotony, and usually very sunless 
'in our climate. Messrs. Barr and Sons have always been de¬ 
moted to hardy flowers, and in their Ditton Hill Nurseries, Long 
Ditton, Surrey, many things may be found to interest the 
lover of hardy plants. Early spring bulbs are everywhere in 
the open air, and later ones .are corning on to keep up the suc¬ 
cession which this class of plants are destined to fill. 
The other week we made a journey to these nurseries to see 
the early flowers once more, and to note any recent additions 
or novelties. Very interesting and beautiful was the new 
Anemone angulosa alba, a pure white variety of the Great 
Hepatica, as the species is named. Tire anthers are creamy, 
and that is all the trace of' colour that can be seen in the 
flower. There are at least three white varieties of the Common 
Hepatica (A. Hepatica), but the more common single white 
variety lias pink anthers. There can be no question that this 
new variety is an acquisition to a class of plants which is 
honestly admired by hardy plant lovers throughout the 
country. Our illustration taken in the nurseries shows a small 
plant of this scarce variety. 
Another Anemone of great interest was that named A. coro- 
naria Eastern Queen, to indicate wild forms of the species which 
have given rise to the single and double Poppy and St. Brigid 
Anemones in gardens. The flowers are scarlet, with a white or 
pale pink zone in the centre, and vary very greatly in the form 
of the coloured sepals. 
Before passing round the nurseries we looked into the glass¬ 
houses, which are gently heated for the purpose of bringing 
on bulbs for early work and preserving a. few things which 
may be described as greenhouse subjects. One of these was 
Lachenalia Nelsoni, a hybrid between L. .aurea and L. tricolor. 
The flowers are tubular, drooping, and yellow, tinted with red, 
but ultimately become a clear bright yellow when fully deve¬ 
loped. Judging from the vigour of the plant and its greater 
frequency in gardens than L. aurea at least, we conclude that 
it is a better garden plant, and responds more readily to culti¬ 
vation. Our illustration shows a small potful of this graceful 
and early-flowering greenhouse subject, which isi so easily 
managed that every establishment should grow a batch of it for 
brightening the conservatory in the early spring months. 
A batch of Primula, obeonica. included a new variety with 
rich carmine flowers, and another named P. o. fimbriata had 
1 the corolla deeply fringed or cut at the edges. 
Several of the Saxifragas of the Megasea section are now in 
flower—have been in bloom, in fact, for some months—particu¬ 
larly S. ligulata and varieties derived from it, as well as S. 
eiliata. The white flowers of the last-named species are beauti¬ 
fully set off with the pink calyx and hirsute leaves. It is not 
" quite so hardy as the- other large-leaved species, but is well 
worth the protection of a. cold frame in winter. 
Several of the varieties of S. oppositifolia were also in bloom, 
including S. O’, major and S. o. alba, with their large purple 
I and white flowers respectively. The new S. Grisebarihii is 
very pretty for the sake of its leaves alone, which are red, 
• tipped with green. The flowers are also red, but of small size. 
The specie-' seems to respond to cultivation much more readily 
than the older S. media and porophylla, belonging to the same 
Section. The white flowers of S. burseriana are of wonderfully 
large size in proportion to the plant. The yellow flowers to 
S. sancta are highly desirable during the month of March, even 
although the blooms are not so large as those of S. apiculata, 
a hybrid which is now destined to become widely spread in 
gardens on account of its vigorous constitution and easy cul¬ 
tivation. 
The Scillas and Chionodoxas were practically everywhere, 
foi, independently of those planted in beds and on the' rockery, 
stray bulbs were coming up in many parts of the nursery where 
; plantations of them had existed in previous years. These' 
stray bulbs were making splendid growth with numerous 
flowers on a raceme. This would apply to C. Luciliae and S. 
bifolia. Very plentiful also' was S. sibirica, with its rich sky- 
blue flower’s. 
Closely akin to these was Hyacinthus azureus robust us, 
which gardeners will persist in naming Muscari ; the hell¬ 
shaped flowers are, however, perfectly open at the mouth, and 
not contracted as in Muscari. The sky-blue flowers are very 
attractive. The beautiful white-flowered Muscari botiyoides 
album was also in bloom. While speaking of these bulbs wo 
cannot omit mention of the pure white Chionodoxa Luciliae 
alba, and Scilla sibirica alba, both growing upon the rockery and 
flowering freely. Asi yet they are very scarce but beautiful 
varieties that will yet find their way into' many gardens. 
Daffodils were represented by several early members of 
the genus, including the beautiful Narcissus cyclamineus, which 
has been flowering for many weeks past, both in cold frames 
and also upon the rockery. The smallest of all the Ajax type 
of Daffodils is N. minimus', a tiny form, the segments of which 
do not overlap. By this the cultivator can always tell whether 
Anemone angulosa alba. 
he has got the truei N. minimus. Ascending the scale as to 
size, we come upon N. nanus, which has some relationship to 
N. minor. The early-flowering N. pallidus praecox was also 
in bloom, and chiefly valued on account of its early flowering 
in the open air. Very much larger in every way was N. Henry 
living, now veiy popular, both for outdoor culture and early 
forcing. N. capax plenus is evidently the earliest of the double 
varieties, and is remarkable for its dwarf habit and flowers of 
moderate size. 
Amongst Primulas very fine were P. denticulate and P. d. 
alba. During the past year or two the white variety has come 
to the front as a most valuable adjunct to> the indoor decora¬ 
tion of cool houses, such as greenhouses, and conservatories. 
It is much more vigorous than albinos sometimes are and is 
readily raised from seed. The bright rosy flowers of P. rosea 
are always interesting at this early period of the year. Poly¬ 
anthus Blue Beauty is another' very desirable Primula, being, 
in fact, the counterpart of the blue Primrose. In the early 
part of the year the main stem does not always lengthen, so 
