254 
The Garden Magazine, June, 1923 
esting for the Netherlandish background as suggested by Frans 
Hals, The Pride of Haarlem, Princess Juliana. And there is 
the lovely Sarah Bernhardt! How fortunate she who stood 
sponsor for so much beauty, as did “the divine Sarah” for her 
Tulip namesake, through which may be achieved a sort of garden 
immortality, keeping her memory old 
rose as well as green. It was this 
Tulip to whom a garden visitor was 
introduced soon after the actress’s 
serious hospital experience. Looking 
down upon the lovely flowers, each 
firmly placed upon its own strong 
stem, the visitor laughingly exclaimed: 
“ How like poor Sarah, each Bernhardt 
has but one leg to stand on!” 
Another Cottage Tulip delightful to 
possess, not alone for its beauty of 
form and coloring, is John Ruskin, 
grown (in quiet little gardens, at all 
events, where associations may be 
cherished at the expense of appear¬ 
ances) not in groups, but as a single 
bulb. For why should there be, how 
could there be, any way, more than 
one of such unique personality any¬ 
where? 
And with this choice bulb one does 
one’s level best in the planting, 
such an earnest preacher of the doc¬ 
trine of good work, one could hardly 
do otherwise than follow Parkinson’s 
advice and be as careful in setting out the “Tulipas” as if they 
were so many jewels. 
Nevertheless, with this rather lonely John Ruskin exception 
to prove the rule, the happy way of growing Tulips is by the 
hundred—if it cannot be done by the thousand—so finely decora¬ 
tive are they, whether out-of-doors or in. 
As cut flowers, Tulips appear to be, in a way, quite sufficient 
unto themselves, and fortunately so—the plant can ill spare 
its leaves for other than their natural purpose of returning food 
to the bulb; albeit to support the weak-stemmed Parrots, one 
dares on occasion to rob inferior varieties of their leaves, yet 
some varieties are happier with outside affinities, like Chrysolora 
with Arabis, for instance; or White Swan with Golden Alyssum; 
and best of all, the blue of Jacob’s-Ladder flower sprays, for 
almost any Tulip of the same flow¬ 
ering period, but particularly becom¬ 
ing to Gretchen and Bernhardt, and 
excellent for lightening the solidity 
of an arrangement of double Tulips 
—those lovable flowers, so well de¬ 
scribed by that delicious Dutch 
equivalent for our English phrase, 
“little flowers,” the full, fat, rollick¬ 
ing sounding word bloempjes. Just 
the right Tulips, these jolly bloemp¬ 
jes, to tumble into a bowl for dec¬ 
orative effect-—a silver bowl for the 
lovely Murillos, if you please, while 
they are in the pink stage of their 
bloom. 
As for the Darwins (always re¬ 
minding, by their stateliness, of Her¬ 
rick’s “Fair Julia,” as portrayed by 
Abbey), there seemed nothing of gar¬ 
den growth to match their tall stems, 
until the happy thought of Ribbon- 
grass for their companionship came 
along with a box of these “ high 
Tulips” from a friend's garden. In 
this connection they proved them¬ 
selves good mixers—aristocrats among Tulips though the Dar¬ 
wins are said to be. What a pretty compliment was paid them 
by Mr. E. V. Lucas, for whom the picture of a girl’s head 
at the Hague is the most beautiful thing in Holland! “The 
painting of the lower lip,” he writes, “is as much a miracle as 
a Darwin Tulip.” 
Truly of Tulip joy there is no end—from the bright Gabriel’s 
early announcement of the coming of the host, to the fallen 
petals of the last Darwin marking the season’s close. 
DARWIN TULIPS AND RIBBON-GRASS 
An informal arrangement typically American in character 
which depends entirely upon color for its effect in contra¬ 
distinction to the Japanese with its austere beauty of line 
WHAT RHODODENDRONS LIKE 
A. RUTLEDGE 
EJPlJjHESE gorgeous shrubs have a broadspreading but very 
shallow rooting-system, and as with other plants of a 
fflfcSi character—Azalea, Arbutus, the Ferns and some 
Lilies—there is practically no such thing among them as 
a tap-root. One secret in growing all the members of this inter¬ 
esting family consists in very heavy mulching; and the deep hu¬ 
mus bed thus supplied must never be removed. Every autumn a 
fresh mulch at least a foot deep should be given. The best 
mulch is nature’s own—leaves. Strawy manure may be used 
to hold down the leaves; but it should never be employed to 
hold down the mulch adjacent to the roots. Leaves are the 
mulch that these plants get in the wild state; and the Rhododen¬ 
dron in particular prospers when it feels that Nature rather than 
some artificial agent is taking care of it. 
A second provision which I believe vital to success with 
Rhododendrons and which, so far as I know, has not been dis¬ 
cussed is that they thrive best in the situation affording them the 
purest air. In my experience this has been so, and I have 
known beautiful rows of them to be killed by smoke from the 
chimney of a power-house. What have other gardeners dis¬ 
covered or observed touching this point? 
Remember to set no stock save that which is heavy and 
massily rooted; a northern, partly shaded situation being 
selected. The soil should be somewhat porous, friable, even 
sandy, and free from lime. Where such soil is not native, haul 
it in. It may be added that to “work around” plants of this 
kind is injurious. A little careful handwork can be done, but do 
not stir the soil, for the tender rootlets lying on and near the 
surface should never be disturbed. But the greatest secret of 
all, it seems to me, is the deep and never-failing mulch. 
