96 VILLA GARDENING 



CHAPTER XVII 



HARDY florists' FLOWERS 



The term florists' flowers as applied to hardy plants must 

 always be somewhat arbitrary iu its application, for tliough the 

 florist's standard of beauty and i)erfection may be the same 

 "yesterday, to-day, and for ever," yet the plants he works upon 

 vary in their species and characteristics, and during the last forty 

 years many new classes have been added to this list. It is true that 

 the Tulip, the Ranunculus, the Auricula, the Pansy, the Carnation, 

 Picotee, and Pink, are pretty much as I remember them thirty 

 years ago. Gradual improvement has taken place, of course, but 

 there have been no leaps and bounds on the march, as there have 

 been with the Rose, the Dahlia, the Pentstemon, the Phlox, the 

 Pyrethrum, and the Chrysanthemum. There is no reason that I 

 know of why we may not feel an intense admiration for Nature 

 pure and simple, and at the same time admire the handiwork of 

 man and the way in Mdiich he has developed the capabilities of 

 particular flowers ; and I know from my own experience and my 

 intercourse with others that there is a vast amount of pleasure to 

 be derived from the cultivation of any plant or flower with the 

 special object of making it conform to some particiUar standard 

 of form, textiu-e, or colour. In what follows it is not pretended 

 that the subject has been exhaustively dealt with ; the limits 

 within which I am working preclude this being done, as nearly 

 every one of the subjects entered into would form a suitable theme 

 for a good-sized treatise. 



The Hollyhock. — There is no class of plants which have 

 such a noble appearance in the garden border, where the soil and 

 situation are suitable, as the one under consideration. But of late 

 years, in the southern counties, a red fungus (Puccinia, malva- 

 cearum) has in many places made their cultivation so difficult that 

 iu some gardens the Hollyhocks have been given up. This fungus 



