Evening star., 1945-09-09

smaller bulbs herald its coming Z
Perhaps the burden of their song is,
10, the winter is over and gone!"
Most of these little early-blooming
bulbs are well suited to the rock
garden, but if the rock garden is not
plainly seen from window. do
plant part of them up near the
house. Among the earliest to bloom
are the snowdrops (Galanthus) and
the crocus. They often come before
the snow has gone. The snowdrops
usually planted are Galanthus
nevalis and G. elwesi. There are
many other species, all slightly diff
ferent, but all are white with green
or yellow markings.
It is possible to buy crocuses by
named varieties. Many of the names
are descriptive, such as Amethyst,
Grand Lilac, King of the Whites,
Queen of the Blues, Midnight and
Purpurea Grandiflora. Others. such
as Caroline Chisolm, white; IVAN
hoe, dark violet-blue, and Excelsior,
a very large lilac, are equally fine
and interesting. but less informative
by name.
When the snowdrops are nearly
gone the Chinodoxa GLORY of the
snow open their dainty blue bios
SONS. The first tos bloom is c. lu-
ciliae, a brilliant blue flower with a
white eye 1t grows 4 inches tall.
c. gigantea is only S inches, a Law
ender-blue in color C. sardensis is
a gentian-blue and inches in
height. There is another one which
the author has never SEEN 1t is
described as soft cream, spotted
rose-purple and very large. 1t
wouldn't seem like a glory the
snow.
The winter aconite (Eranthis)
should not be omitted from these
very early Towering bulbs. The
earliest of all is E. hyemalis, a fine
yellow. E. tubergeni is fine hybrid
of a deep yellow color. There is
another one, very rare and beautiful,
which is a pearly white instead of
the yellow common to the others.
The albums, to which our COM
mon onion belongs, is another large
group which blooms from iris time
to August. They vary in height
from 2 inches to feet and come
in white, shades of blue to purple
and add yellow, pink and green for
good measure
Many gardeners have grown grape
hyacinths tMuscarD and squill
(Scilla) Fewer have tried snow
flakes Ieucoium) and Puschkinia
Lebanon squilN.
The snowflake Geucojum) is like
grown up snowdrop. The spring
Towering ones are white L. vernum
is 6 to 10 inches high. L. aestivum
which blooms in May. is l9 inches
high. Its lovely bells are tipped
with green.
Puschkinia scilloides has white
flowers striped with blue. 1t grows
only 6 inches tall and blooms in
April.
Coming into great favor of late
are the dainty trout lilies cry
thronium). E. amnericanum is the
one We have often called the dog
tooth violet. It has small lily-like
blossoms of white, cream, yellow,
pink and rose. It's mottled leaves
add a great deal to its interest. AL
the trout lilies prefer partial shade
and rich woodsy soil California has
sent us some of her species in e.
callfornlcum, a creamy white and
E. californicum bicolor in which
the outside of the petal is white and
the inside yellow. There are many
others of great beauty.
There are so many interesting
bulbs which might well be included.
Nothing has been said of the bulb
GUS iris. trilliun, fritillaria, camas-
slas and lilies.
We cannot entirely omit hyacinths
and tulip species. since the former
should be planted by the first of
October. Hyacinths are heavy feed
ers. They like well-rotted COW ma
nure and bonemeal. Plant them in
the sunny places from 4 to s inches
deep.
Bulbs of the species tulips should
be planted deeper than the average
rule. Put them down to 10 inches
deep. They like some lime and plen-
ty of bonemeal. No manure unless
it is well rotted and put down deep.