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The Early Bulb Order: Cottage

Tulips When one turns over the pages of a catalogue and comes upon the long list of tulips, one feels more hopelessly bewildered than ever. There are early single tulips, early double tulips, Cottage tulips, Darwin tulips, Breeders, Parrot tulips, Rembrandt tulips, and the little Botanical or Species tulips. But unless one has at least a bowing acquaintance with some of them, how is one to know which varieties to order! Have them one must, however. There is almost no other flower that gives us such a wide range of colorings as does the tulip. "I love tulips better than any other flower. They are the embodiment of alert cheerfulness and tidy grace," says Elizabeth in the delightful chronicles of her German Garden, and surely, when tulips are at the height of their beauty one can but pause and wonder if perhaps one does not really love them best of all.

In a small garden one is tempted to leave out the double varieties altogether, most of them seem so uncomfortably topheavy and lack entirely the grace and charm of the single flowers. One is inclined also to spare but little space to the early tulips, whose period of bloom is so fleeting compared with that of the later varieties; but a few one should have just as heralds of the loveliness to come.

Of the early tulips, White Hawk is one of the best white varieties, Yellow Prince is an excellent yellow, and Rose Luisante and Queen of the Netherlands are both soft shades of rose-pink. Le Reve is one of the newer varieties and is one of the loveliest of the group. It is a soft rose in color, flushed with buff, and the flowers are borne on strong, erect stems. It comes into bloom somewhat later than most of the other varieties in this class. One will usually have the greatest satisfaction if one concentrates most of one's space and efforts upon the lovely Cottage or May-flowering tulips, the stately Darwins, and the Breeders, which are obtainable in such beautiful colorings.

In the Cottage or May-flowering group we find many lovely varieties. Two favorites are Moonlight and Inglescombe Pink. Moonlight is well named, being of palest primrose-yellow, lovely and luminous. It forms a most delightful combination when planted with Phlox divaricata or when massed with La Tulipe Noire beside a Rosa hugonis to bring out the contrast of light and shade. Inglescombe Pink is a beautiful clear rose-pink. The flowers are large and of globular form, reaching a height of about twenty-two inches. The Cottage tulips cover a wide range of colors, white, pink, scarlet, and yellow. Of the various classes of tulips the Darwins are probably the most popular, and deservedly, they are so stately and so beautiful, and add such poignant loveliness to the spring garden. It is a difficult task to choose one's half-dozen favorites out of a list that comprises nearly a hundred varieties. Clara Butt is probably one of the most popular and best-known varieties and is so reasonable in price that one feels one can plant it in generous quantities. The fact that it is inexpensive, however, does not mean that it is less lovely than some of its more costly sisters. For many years it has been considered one of the best of the rose-colored Darwins. Psyche is one of the most beautiful of all tulips, a lustrous silvery pink in color, and it should be planted in every garden. Princess Elizabeth is another Darwin of clear deep pink, shading to rose. Rev. H. Ewbank is a delightful tone of soft lavender shading to silvery gray. Zulu is a deep, velvety purple and a wonderful foil for flowers of more delicate hue. The Bishop is slightly more expensive than many of the Darwins but it is well worth the extra cost, its soft bluish-violet color being most delightful in combination with some of the deeper tones. King Harold is a tall and finely formed flower of intense ruby-crimson.

The Breeder tulips are very similar in habit to the Darwins and flower at the same time. One finds in this group wonderfully soft and artistic shades of bronze, buff, and mahogany, shades that are found in almost no other flower. Bronze Queen is one of the best varieties, its large, stately blooms being of a soft golden bronze. Fairy is of deep mahogany hue, and Godet Parfait is an excellent deep purple.