•he Gardening World, April 6, 1907. 
MOTTO FOR THE WEEK: 
“Persist, persevere, and you will find most things attainable that are possible. Chesterfield. 
CONTENTS. 
mateur’s Letter to Amateurs, An... 233 
thvrium Filix-foemina Plumosum 
Horsfall . 2 4 2 
ompetition Awards . 2 34 
ompetition, Prize Letter . 236 
nquire Within . 2 44 
lower Garden, The . 241 
'ruit Garden, The . 2 4 t 
looseberries, The Culture of (illus.) 243 
Ireenhouse, The Amateurs . 241 
leavenly Blue (illus.) . 235 
vitchen Garden, The . 241 
.avender, The Sea (illus.) . 235 
Narcissus incomparabilis (illus.) . 239 
Narcissus, Johnstoni King of Spain 
(illus.) .*■. •••237 
Drchids for Amateurs .. 242 
’elargoniums, Taking.Cuttings (illus) 238 
Perennials from Seed .'.. 234 
;Poses: Work for April . 240 
btatices, Annual . 236 
Sweet Peas (Letter) . 2 4 § 
Vegetables for Am.ateurs . 234 
Work of the Week . 241 
iuccas and their Cultivation . 248 
-- 
J\. Iom Sou$. 
Oh that the winds of love were kind as ye, 
Soft winds of spring ! 
To win her smiling face again to me 
As ye will summer to the waiting tree! 
Oh that we as of old her songs might 
sing; 
Forgetting all 
The sound of tears to hear the woodlands 
rin S> . . 
If only love could come again as spring . 
Oh that her footsteps once again might 
fall 
As spring to-day, 
Along the sodden track, and gently call 
To life again her blossoms, one and all 
From far away, 
As spring to-day! 
Jas. Blackhall. 
-4-M-- 
Fatal Flowers. 
Ethel Gregory, the thirteen-year-old 
daughter of a Broadclvst (Devon) farm 
labourer, has died from blood poisoning 
set up by a scratch sustained while pick¬ 
ing some primroses from a hedgerow. 
LXXXV. 
Decorative Display. 
One of the great secrets of achieving a 
beautiful garden is to make a point of 
learning the most valuable plants at any 
given season that blossom simultaneously. 
Where the novice is concerned this know¬ 
ledge cannot be better gained than by 
visiting, say Kew, or any other large col¬ 
lection of hardy plants. Now, knowing 
as I do, that the readers of The Garden¬ 
ing World are, some of them, thousands 
of miles from our Royal Gardens, I pur¬ 
pose to-day calling to mind from notes 
made a vear or two ago some of the plants 
that flower during the latter end of March 
and the early part of April, in some cases, 
of course - , maintaining an even longer 
period of blossom. I mean to name on.y 
really hardy subjects, that even the novice 
may grow with no difficulty, and that 
make a beautiful and an interesting 
spring garden, and many of them suitable 
alike for bed, border, or rock garden. 
I may say here that it is this last that is 
the pride and glory of the Kew Gardens, 
at, and beyond the period under con¬ 
sideration. And I am writing on the 
subject at this time of the year because 
now, of all others, is the ideal time to 
grow these subjects from seed, whether 
they be alpine or ordinary perennial 
plants, or to propagate from cuttings. I 
would not myself hesitate to buy the 
plants at the present time, if I wanted 
them very much, even if they happened 
to be in blossom. At this particular time 
you can move most things with impunity 
so 1-ong as you give them a little attention 
as to watering during a succeeding period 
of drought. 
One of the showiest and most beautiful 
of plants, especially where space can be 
given it to spread into a wide mass in 
some open sunny spot, is Erica carnea. 
It is a bright rosy purple, and may in 
many districts be reckoned with as a win¬ 
ter flower. A light soil, well drained, 
and a sunny aspect should be secured for 
it, and if possible some gentle slope. 
There is . also a white flowered variety of 
this and of Erica mediterranea. 
Then there is the Anemone known as 
A. Pulsatilla, a native, and known also 
as the Pasque Flower. I have found it 
quite easv to grow from seed, and as it 
will flourish in the partial shade, it is 
invaluable for cool aspects. The large 
important looking flowers leave the foliage 
far behind. When growing in open posi¬ 
tions the bees would seem to delight in 
it. The colouring—a soft purple—is a 
little uncommon in the spring garden, and 
so is the hirsute habit of the plant; while 
che flowers are large enough to have con¬ 
siderable character and distinction. In 
speaking of the Anemones, it will never 
do to omit the beautiful A. apennina, with 
its blue flowers that are exquisite when 
naturalised in a bit of garden copse. 
Interesting, though not particularly 
showy, are the yellow and the purp'e 
Violets. 
Primulas. 
Some of the hardy Primulas are hosts 
in themselves. Thus P. denticulata is a 
mass of pale mauve blossom, native of 
India though it be. My experience of it 
is that it requires a little study. Thus it 
comes through a cold winter more suc¬ 
cessfully in a raised position than on the 
level, and if some taller growing plant 
can afford it shade in summer so much 
the better. Even more decorative, per¬ 
haps, is the brightly coloured P. rosea 
grandiflora, a lover of moisture, and easy 
to raise from seed if this be sown as soon 
as ripe, in pans that are covered and kept 
out of doors. We must not forget the 
blue Primrose—P. veris caerulea, and 
there is also a Polyanthus form in P. veris 
elatior caerulea that is comparatively new 
and very effective. In Tearing Primulas 
from seed the novice must have ample 
patience: they do not germinate by any 
means rapidly, and nothing is to be gained 
by subjecting them to bottom heat; they 
resent it heartily—hardy they are arid 
hardy they mean to remain. 
Gentiana verna. 
All of us, surely, have the ambition to 
grow Gentiana acauiis as well as it can 
be grown. There is no blue like this 
blue, and no other blossom to take its 
place. I have never seen it in such per¬ 
fection, no, not even at Kew, as it is in 
an old country garden where the soil is 
light, but in which iron is said to abound. 
The patches of Gentiana are growing on 
raised ledges in the rock garden, and in 
their season are masses of immense blos¬ 
soms. I do not call them good town 
plants; they are too capricious, though I 
know a keen amateur who is growing 
them in soil he actually brought from 
Switzerland for the purpose, and they do 
fairlv well though in a somewhat enclosed 
suburb. 
These Gentians' make splendid edging 
subjects as they are evergreen, and 
models of neat compact growth. They 
are not difficult to grow from seed treated 
as advised for hardy Primulas. They 
flower a little later than most of the sub¬ 
jects I have named. 
F. Norfolk. 
