The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-10-27

a stately appearance. The color Is the most brilliant red with black splotch at the center of the bloom The tex ture Is like satin and the blooms are enormous and last long time The objection is sometimes made that the tulips are soon over and then the gar den Is bare but this Is not necessary
 The tulips may be taken up and other things planted in their places. My own preference Is for asters which make a good border and last well, but there are number of other things that may be used as sweet a1yssum, coleus, ag- eratum. alternanthera and so on If the tulips are not taken up, they may be planted little further apart and the summer blooming plants may be placed between them. The question as to which procedure is the better is often asked it is we'll known that some bulbs are capricious Tulips do not de- teriorate so rapidly as hyacinths if left in the ground. The chief thing to re- member if left in the ground is that they must not be watered heavily dur ing the summer the bulbs may rot. Always put handful of sand under each bulb. especially if they are to be left in the ground. If they are to be removed in the spring, one must either wait until the leaves turn yellow and ripen and then lift the bulbs or they may be lifted as soon as they are done blooming and heeled up in a pile of loose dirt in the back garden where the foliage may ripen and then be again lifted and dried for a day or two. Aft CT this they may be stored in an at tic, a cool cellar or a closet until the following October. when they are to be replanted My own preference is to put a hundred in the best bed and allow them to remain for two or three 1 l plant the next fall in the back garden and buy new ones for the best bed. The old ones will continue to do well for a long time, but they are not quite so large as the freshly imported ones. They should be planted about four inches deep and from three to six inches apart. If six inches. there will be room between for summer boomers between the bulbs
 In some of my beds the gesneriana tulips are interspersed with parrot tulips
 which are also late and bloom at the same time. These give a pleasing variety if one does not care especially for the uninterrupted line of bright red satin The parrot tulips are unspeakably gor- geous, of all shades, red, yellow. green and brown. They look like beautiful birds and harmonize perfectly with the gesnerianas
 One bed of tulips which called forth CT tf usiastic comment last spring was border of Darwin tulips of the Farm ccmbe Sanders variety which is the real An erican Beauty of tulips. This shade OF red wars with gesneriana and should not be planted near it. The Beethoven tulips are of the Darwin family also. They are pink and very lively. They are more effective planted away from the bright red ones.
 If this is your first attempt at plant ;,,r ha, th. lad lad nnh deep. Do not use fresh manure but use plenty of well-rotted manure which must not touch the bulbs. When the bed is uell-spaded, the very best way is to throw out about seven inches of the soil. Now put in a layer of two inches of solid @ell-rotted manure Cover this with one inch of ordinary garden soil. Plant each bulb on this, placing a handful of sand under and around each one. Throw in the best of the soil which should be about one-third manure Level off evenly on top. This method puts the food where the roots naturally grow towards it. Tulips will do well without this sort of planting; they are not exacting, but the pest way is none too good for tulips
 So many things not only may be but must be planted in the fall, that it is real necessity to remind people to do il if they do not wish to be flowerless in the spring.
 Expense Is according to the point Of view. If one Is thinking in cents, tulips arc expensive if one is thinking in dol lars, tulips are inexpensive. It Is inn possible to use the word cheap in con neotion with this flower. Tulips are royal and are on the same plane of thought as the Tai Mahal, the Grand Canyon, the Vatican, TetrazZini and everything grand and splendid and beautiful. In flowers beauty is not d matter of dollars. If you wish to be a benefactor to your country, buy 10 cents worth of poppy seeds and throw them out of a car win dow any time between now and Christi mas. This means that they will grow and bloom in almost any soil without cultivation. Self-grown seeds which blew over the fence into our back alley made the whole alley vision of delight last May. Ii one wants the finest poppies pre- pare the bed well anl fertilze it and cover the seeds very slightly. They will .'eward you hundredfold. Do not be alarmed when they come up in mid winter. They do not mind frost and will not take an insult. The only way to get rid of them is to pull them up bodily and throw them over the fence. Topples are effective planted between clumps of perennial phlox mum. The peoples bloom in May when there is nthing doing in phlox. When the poppies are over they may be removed and the phlox begin to bloom in June continuing until frost if properly treated so that bed of phlox, peoples and tulips fol- lowed by asters will give succession of ccor from April to October and require very little attention once planted.
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