The Garden Magazine, April, 1923 
113 
Sweet Violet. This de¬ 
lightful hardy flower we 
have at last succeeded in 
growing by placing it be¬ 
tween sandstone blocks 
used in building low retain¬ 
ing walls. There are now 
many varieties of the Sweet 
Violet flowering in the fall 
and in the spring so it is es¬ 
sential to make them happy. 
Magnolias. In April 
some of the earliest forms 
of these noble shrubs come 
into flower—rather too 
early for us—as sometimes 
they get nipped by frost. 
But nevertheless they are 
essential, and the plants 
are hardy with us. 
Lenten Roses. This is 
the English name for the 
Hellebores, which flower in the early spring and are beautiful, 
especially in soil of a calcareous nature. Here in Sussex we do 
not grow them as well as the Devonshire folk, but they are essen¬ 
tial to the garden and are the fairest of February flowers, 
thriving on rocky banks and in shady places. 
Gentians. We have not yet taken any liberties with these 
in the grass, and after failures from heat at last made one of 
them happy on low sandstone walls. The plants are laid in 
between the stones, each stone an inch behind the one below, 
and each with a downward slope backward so that all the rain 
that falls goes direct to the roots. The land here and for many 
miles around is based on sandstone rock so we have not far to 
go for the stone. Our plant is the handsome G. acaulis and as 
I write (May 7) the fine purple cups are open in the sun. A man 
has come in who had crossed the European Alps twice and said 
he had never seen this Gentian so fine as on my little battered 
WITHIN THE WALLED GARDEN AT GRAVETYE 
Color and fragrance fill this sunny and sheltered enclosure, and from many windows 
Mr. Robinson looks out upon this ordered loveliness of his own creating 
Photograph by Courtesy of Mary Rutherfurd Jay, Landscape Architect 
walls. In such plantings we put a mere dust of soil between the 
stones as we lay in the plants. The roots soon find their way to 
the good earth at the back. As the ground slopes rather sharply, 
we have to use the low wall to support the banks. 
Left out of this chapter are any words as to varieties of plants 
difficult to grow; and such is the story of the spring here, ex¬ 
pressing the truth of Lowell’s words that the spring in England is 
a delightful gift of the earth mother. 
An hour after jotting down the above I was going around the 
low walls faced with stone when I saw a Rocky Mountain Phlox 
of much brilliant color (P. amoena). These Rocky Mountain 
dwarf Phloxes give fine color in spring, are hardy and enduring 
on the brows of the walls, never suffer from cold; and so placed 
are true perennials, The one just named is naturalized in a 
near-by copse in poor soil. Several kinds have been here for 
years, evergreen and as hardy as children of the “Rockies” 
should be. 
form, the double Furze 
which, although it must be 
propagated from cuttings, is 
a handsome plant for the 
garden. 
SALVAGING THE EASTER-FLOWERED BULBS 
A. B. STOUT 
Director of the Laboratories, New York Botanical Garden 
^lg|piLL the bulbs that have been forced thrive and bloom 
again next year? The somewhat encouraging answer 
mf&k to this frequently asked question is that, when given 
reasonable care, bulb plants are usually still capable of 
vigorous vegetative growth even after having been once forced; 
but whether they will bloom readily again depends both on the 
kind of plant and on the cultural treatment given. 
The Easter Lily (Lilium longiflorum), the Showy Lily (L. 
speciosum), Hyacinths, and Paper-white Narcissus are the four 
bulbs forced in greatest numbers for Easter and for the early 
winter and spring flower trade, and the greater number of these 
plants are thrown away after their flowers wither—a rather 
necessary act on the part of dwellers in apartment houses— 
but to those persons having a bit of land for a flower garden it is 
somewhat of a waste of potential flowers, except in the case of 
the Narcissus. 
Accompanying photographs show Lilium speciosum and 
Hyacinths in the second successive year of being forced. In the 
previous year the Lily was forced from a medium-sized bulb, 
and yielded one flower stalk with a cluster of fine flowers. The 
following year (when the photograph was taken), three stems 
arose from new daughter bulbs, each yielding several fine flowers. 
The Hyacinths were forced “hard” for a special winter display 
at the New York Botanical Garden, after which they were un¬ 
animously voted as worthless and only fit for the discard. 
However, in order to make a test of the value of such bulbs, the 
plants were taken to the propagating house and placed on a 
bench in good light and kept well watered until the leaves 
became brown and sere. Then the pots of plants were placed 
under the benches and watered at intervals for a period of about 
three weeks, after which no water was given and the soil was 
allowed to become fully dry, the bulbs finally being removed 
