346 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[November, 



Literature, Travels \ Personal Notes. 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



THE ROMANCE OF HERBACEA. 



BY WM. T. HARDING, MOUNT HOLLY, N. J. 



I feel impelled to say how much Mr. Suther- 

 land's remarks — or rather as corrected, Mr. 

 Manning's— in the September Monthly, coin- 

 cide with my own views regarding '• Hardy Her- 

 hrtceous Plants for general cultivation." And 

 with him I much regret their delightful presence 

 is not with us, in this year of grace, as they used 

 to be in days gone by. 



Vivid recollections of the old-fashioned her- 

 baceous flower borders, as they appeared in 

 multiform beauty fifty years ago, are as visible 

 in ideality now, as they were then in reality. 

 But of these once gay, odorous beauties, we may 

 painfully ask: Where are they ? as even their 

 names are seldom, or never, mentioned now. 

 Surely their tender, humanizing mission is not 

 ended yet. All moralists, philanthropists, or 

 intelligent persons who take a warm interest in 

 the general welfare of their fellow creatures, 

 cheerfully admit that flowers have, besides their 

 great importance in the economy of nature, an 

 testhetic and happy influence on the social 

 affairs of mankind "in the pursuits of life, 

 health and happiness." 



So just and true to nature is George Eliot's 

 delineation of hardy perennials, or herbaceous 

 plants, that her admirers will remember her 

 description in "Adam Bede," of " a once well- 

 tended kitchen garden of a manor house." It 

 is a choice bit of word-painting, worthy of Bus- 

 kin in his best efforts. It bore traces of better 

 days, although then sadly neglected " in that 

 leafy, flowery, bushy time, * * * there were the 

 tall holly-hocks beginning to flower and dazzle 

 the eye with their pink, white, and yellow," &c., 

 which to the mind's eye seems as if they were 

 actually present. And the inimitable, incom- 

 parable Sir Walter Scott, when "forging the 

 hand-writing of nature," no writer was more 

 expert. And how charmingly he lays before 

 his enraptured readers quaint and pleasant 

 scenes around old ancestral halls, baronial parks, 

 and pleasure grounds, or antique monastic gar- 

 dens. For instance, * * * " the enumeration of 

 plants, herbs and shrubs, which his reverend 

 conductor pointed out to him ; of which this 



was choice, because of prime use in medicine; 

 and that more choice for yielding a rare flavor 

 to pottage; and a third choicest of all, because 

 possessed of no merit but its extreme scarcity." 

 In these ancient places our forefathers proudly 

 displayed their love of herbaceous plants, and 

 as skilled herbalists, their knowledge of medici- 

 nal herbs, or 'physic plants," which were gener- 

 ally arranged in long beds, or parallel borders 

 alongside of each other, in strict accordance 

 with the ways of the simple, goodly folk of ye 

 olden time. 



But as I am writing in the year '82, I must 

 come back to the time and no longer diverge 

 from the blessed harbingers as they are, of the 

 advent of smiling spring, who come with the 

 first peep of the cheery Snowdrop, Crocus, Saxa- 

 fraga oppositifolia. Anemone Appenina, Adonis 

 vernalis, Arabis Alpina, Primrose and Hyacinth, 

 with other early flowers, whose coy glances at 

 one another seem like a happy recognition and 

 welcome as each floral sister returns to the ver- 

 nal scene. And afterwards, through the chang- 

 ing seasons of the year, what a galaxy of superb 

 loveliness seems to spring up where the benign 

 footsteps of " Flora" has touched, until chilly 

 "Old Boreas," with his frosty fingers, plucks the 

 last Helleborus niger, or Christmas rose, in the 

 wintry snows. 



Now this is no garish picture of an imaginary 

 scene, but is in reality, simply "holding up the 

 mirror to nature," so that all may see how ex- 

 quisitely beautiful are the fair features of flowers. 



Perhaps it may be thought of what I have 

 said about the subject, that the couleur de rose 

 has been too lavishly used But you, Mr. Editor, 

 with many of the Monthly's kind readers, will 

 know the writer's enthusiastic admiration for 

 herbaceous plants has not carried him in their 

 description to the verge of exaggeration. 



To give a list of a moderate number would be 

 a pleasant task for the writer. But as Mr. Man- 

 ning hints at so doing, I will not attempt it. 

 Assured by the editor of his abilities in that 

 line, it would seem invidious to trespass on his 

 chosen ground; so will leave it for him to do in 

 his own perspicuous manner. Fully indorsing 

 all he says about it, I would advise a re-perusal 

 of his excellent article ; and if, after so doing, 

 any one should decide to follow his suggestions. 



