September 30, 190C. 
Q 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
- 0 
>, SUTTON'S CROCUSES.£ 
Few flowers give more pleasure to the com¬ 
munity at large than Crocuses when they peer 
through the soil of the garden border or upon 
grass on some particular part of the lawn in 
the opening months of the year. Those who 
cultivate Crocuses on the grass usually place 
them under the shade of deciduous trees, and 
no more appropriate place could be had for 
them. When the leaves are upon the trees 
the Crocuses are resting, and in spring under 
deciduous trees they are therefore fully ex¬ 
posed to the spring sunshine. Situations 
under evergreen trees would be altogether in¬ 
appropriate, because the Crocuses could not 
make their growth of flowers and foliage for 
the favourite, except in the case of the Saffron 
Crocus, which enjoyed a period of prosperity 
for commercial purposes. The clump of 
Crocuses shown in the illustration to which 
we refer is a variety of C. vernus. The long 
period of cultivation to which this species has 
been subjected by the Dutch growers, and the 
raising and selection of new varieties, has 
made an originally variable species still more 
variable. This variation consists chiefly of the 
greater size of the flower and greater variety 
of colours compared with the original. The 
range of colour varies from the original iliac- 
purple to white, blush, and pink on the one 
hand, and to rose-purple and violet-purple on 
Lupinus POLVPHYLLUS 
X “ SO/AERSET. ’ 
Hitherto there has been a rcmarkabl • line 
drawn between the colours of tree ami her¬ 
baceous Lupins, for while in the former we 
have yellow, but no blue, the latter class 
possesses a variety of blue shades, but not 
a single yellow. [Some annual species have 
yellow flowers, such as L. luteus.—Eli.] 
The yellow is, however, now obtained in 
the herbaceous perennial section by the beau¬ 
tiful new hybrid above named, which promises 
to become a very popular plant, not only 
by reason of its distinction as the only yellow 
among the herbaceous perennial Lupins, but 
because both its habit and colour are ex¬ 
tremely pleasing. Nothing can be positively 
asserted on the question of its exact parent¬ 
age, but a sight of the plant is sufficient to 
convince one that it is really a hybrid be¬ 
tween L. arboreus and L. polyphyllus var., 
Sutton’s Crocuses. 
Copyright , Sutton and Sons. 
any great number of years before they were 
killed out for want of light. 
The accompanying illustration, kindly 
placed at our disposal by Messrs. Sutton and 
Sons, Reading, shows a clump of white 
Crocuses amongst the grass in full exposure to 
air and sunshine. Grass is doubly suitable, 
for the simple reason that it prevents the 
flowers from getting soiled- during periods of 
rain, and also assists in preventing the flowers 
from getting broken down by wind and rain in 
our uncertain springtime. 
Close upon seventy species of Crocuses are 
known to the botanist independently of a vast 
number of varieties, and most of these are in 
cultivation in some garden or other. Ever 
since their cultivation was commenced in this 
country, however, C. vernus has always been 
the other hand. The number of. shades is 
thus very great, and the colours are arranged 
in a variety of ways, either in uniform shades 
or in stripes and zones. The yellow Crocus is 
an entirely different species, and has never 
been crossed with C. vernus—in fact, we 
believe they do not cross, otherwise it would 
have been effected long before this time. 
Several other Crocuses enjoyed fairly wide 
cultivation in gardens, particularly Cloth of 
Gold (C. susianus) and Large Scotch and Cloth 
of Silver, which are varieties of C. biflorus, 
and have long enjoyed popular favour in 
Scotch gardens. Of the three or four 
species we mention, C. vernus, C. aureus, and 
C. biflorus undoubtedly bear the mark of the 
florist, and have enjoyed considerable 
notoriety for several centuries past. 
and it may certainly be supposed that the 
white form of the latter would be most likely 
to bring out the yellow of the other parent. 
How strange it is that what clever hybridists 
had failed to do has been accidentally accom¬ 
plished, and now that there is a yellow her¬ 
baceous Lupin it should put us on our 
mettle to strive hard to obtain a blue Tree 
Lupin. 
L. arboreus Daisy Hill is the nearest ap¬ 
proach thereto, but that is far from being 
“ blue ” ; the wings are white and the keel 
is really purple, although it may be said to 
be blue when first the flowers open-. Still, 
there is something to go on, for, if some blue 
can be had, there is no reason why a wholly 
blue flower should not be obtained. All 
honour to him who first produces it. 
Heather Bell. 
