Globe Flower

GLOBE FLOWER, Trollius Europaeu

GLOBE flowers and marsh marigolds may be described as the finest of all the buttercups that adorn moist meadows and riverside wastes. They may be seen flowering together in the same fields, but generally speaking the marsh marigold, or caltha, has finished its course with joy and settled down to quiet rest ere the globe flower furnishes its golden cups to make the meadow gay. The British globe flower has been honourably associated with the custom of decorating churches with garlands, but is now not much sought for that purpose. But we have seen it plentifully used in the well dressings in the Peak country, making a beautiful fringe to the inscription wrought out in other flowers, "Water is the gift of God," or "Health and temperance are good old friends." It is one of the palest coloured and least polished of the yellow flowers of the ranunculus family, but it is a truly beautiful flower, with some fine points for the observant artist, and will serve as a lesson for the observant amateur in its love of a deep rich moist soil, for this is a special peculiarity of a majority of its kindred.

The several species of Trollius are good garden plants, compact in growth, and not given to rambling; deep rooting and well able to take care of themselves in a suitable, well-drained soil; liking moisture indeed, but requiring to be protected against stagnant water near the surface. They are proper border plants, of little use for grouping, but showing well in large clumps. They may be propagated from seeds and by divisions of the root. It is only when a large stock is required that seeds should be sown, although to raise them is a very simple matter. It is best always to sow in pans or boxes as soon as ripe, and shut up in an old frame; or, lacking the accommodation, the seed may be sown on a sheltered border, and the spot should be marked with a tally, to prevent disturbance and insure timely removal of weeds as fast as they appear. The seeds will not germinate until the following spring, and if the plants are pricked out when large enough to handle, a nice bed of light soil being selected for the purpose, one year's growing will make flowering specimens of them, although for fine clumps we must wait four or five years. When a few plants only are wanted, the roots should be divided in August or September, and the divisions at once planted where they are to remain. To divide into many small pieces will be to risk loss of all in the winter, therefore it is true economy to be content with cutting a strong root into two or three parts, as, though it may appear an easy matter to cut it into a dozen or more, the expert propagator alone is to be trusted to cut the roots of such plants to so great an extent.