Many gardeners perhaps are apt to forget that late summer
is planting time as well as flowering time. What a number of things ought to be put into the earth now or a very little later. In " fantastic summer heat " we must, in spite of Shakespeare, think of December-flowering bulbs, and even of certain flowering shrubs such as azaleas. How very many lilies have been damaged or have lost a year through forgetful- ness that the date of planting should be August! Among the bulbs that are best planted in the open in full summer the autumn-flowering crocuses, so-called, deserve particular attention because they have been so greatly improved within the last few years. Mr. Backhouse, that prince of bulb hybridisers, has done as much for this autumnal flower as for the montbretia, but has concentrated rather on beauty of form than on colour or even on size. The Dutch have created a double, so wide and ornate that it might be of another species, though it is very true to the standard colour. The flowers are valuable for their adaptability as wejl as their date of flowering. Some gracious clumps familiar to me grow in mown grass under apple trees. W. BEACH THOMAS.
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