File:The century book of gardening; a comprehensive work for every lover of the garden (1900) (20589038295).jpg

Title: The century book of gardening; a comprehensive work for every lover of the garden
Identifier: centurybookofgar00cook (find matches)
Year: 1900 (1900s)
Authors: Cook, E. T. (Ernest Thomas), 1867-1915, ed
Subjects: Gardening
Publisher: London, The Offices of "Country life" (etc. )
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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HARDY FLOWERS.
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PARROT TULirS, Dutch Tulips, familiar in parks a id gardens early in the spring. Gesner's Tulip, described in catalogues as T. Gesneriam spathulata, or T. G. major, should lie planted in hold groups by itself or with other plants. A happy association is a colony amongst Quince trees, the great goblet-shaped crimson flowers, when expanded in the May sun, glowing as if alight with colour. Dull and ineffective are all other kii ds against this splend d flower, tall, vigorous, and rich in colour, made still more so by the bluish centre. In large gardens fill distinct beds with it, and use it too in the hardy border or permanent beds of perennials as a relief to other things. T. elegans, the dark crimson florets reflexing at the apex, Fulgens. crimson, Golden Beauty (also known as Bouton d'Or), deep yellow, and Golden Eagle, also yellow, but w ith a margin of crimson to the florets, are also handsome. A delightful kind is Macrospila, a form undoubtedly of Gesneriana, but the flowers are rose carmine in colour and sweetly scented ; no Tulip is so fragiant as this sturdy kind. Then there are various varieties of Gesneriana— carminea, with its white centre, and alba marginata, ivory white, thinly margined with rose. Picotee is dainty in form and colour, and not quixotic as some kinds—T. Greigei, for instance—in its behaviour. The flowers are pure white, the florets narrowing towards the apex, where they recurve, and the soft rose edge adds to their delicate beauty. Viridiflora is quaint, the flowers green with yellow colouring towards the margin, but this should not be thought of before any of those previously named. T. Didieri is a hardy graceful kind, bright crimson with black base, and the variety alba is a good kind, also T. vitellina, the flowers soft yellow, a tender shade, and T. flava, a handsome, bold, very late yellow flower. A host of Tulips less vigorous as a rule than those mentioned compiise such gems as T. australis, yellow ; the brilliantly-coloured T. Batahni ; the wild Tulip Sylvestris, and T. suaveolens, pretty in the grass whe e they can be established ; T. Clusiina, or the Lady Tulip, a slender dwarf variety of rose and white ; T. lanata, and T. linifolia, scarlet ; the dwarf T. persica, sweetly scented and yellow in colour ; and T. undulatifolia. The Tulip family nnmbeis, however, many beautiful species and varieties, and of late \ ears their number has been greatly added to through the introductions from Russia, Armenia, and Eastern Europe generally. The Parrot Tulips are a strange group, and their origin is hidden in mystery. T. platystigma is probably one parent, as in a group of it flowers show gashed florets similar to those thai distinguish the Parrot race. Whatever their origin, they possess distinct charm, but the bulbs sometimes disappoint. Unfortunately, gaps are not uncommon, though when a bed is a success the blaze of bizarre colouring is Oiiental in its splendour. The 1 ong beds of Parrot Tulips in Mr. Walker's nursery at II i m are a brave sight, colour pictures painful almost in I heir intensity. The flowers arc bulky, florets gashed ami ( ill grotesquely, the colour laid on in splashes and blotches, sometimes self, sometimes yellow against crimson a curious but never inharmonious medley. The flowers are too heavy for the stems to support, and therefore it is wise to plant the bulbs in groups, colonies, or in a carpet of some low-growing plant, as the Saxifraga, to prevent them being splashed by rains beating up the soil. Through the uncertain flowering of these Tulips, it is advisable not to plant them too freely. When used, plant a little closer together than in the case of other Tulips. The late-flowering Tulips, described as Darwin, are of undoubted value, and from an almost complete collection of them the following are selected as not only distinct, but clear and agreeable in colour : Carminea, carmine, tall and handsome ; Dorothy, lavender shot with Luff; Early Dawn, rose purple, silvery towards the margin, a pleasing shade ; Charles Dickens, bright crimson ; Flambeau, brilliant carmine: firebrand, deep crimson, a bold flower on a tall scape or stem ; Glow, well- named, its neat shapely flower aglow with crimson colouring ; Loveliness, I.right carmine ; Bronze King, rich bron/y, outer segments margined old gold, the inner ones entirely of the latter shade ; Phyllis, a beautiful Tulip, white, margined rose, the centre of the segments feathered with bull yellow ; Salmon King, salmon ; and The Sultan, which is almost black, so intense is the colouring. The early Tulips are familiar in parks and gardens before the nobler later kinds are in bloom. Such clearly- coloured varieties as Canary Bird, yellow, or Chrysolora, of the same colour : Cottage Maid, rose pink ; the various Van Thols, of course not omitting the scarlet and yellow form, Keizerskroon ; Pottebakkers in their several shades ; Vermilion Brilliant, vermilion, and Ophir d'Or, are important. Amateur gardeners know,

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