FLOWERS OF THE SUN 223 



and yellow wild Aster, but no red; and so on in- 

 definitely. Even with the garden flora the same 

 fact obtains. The blue Rose is missing, also a 

 clear red Pansy. Verbenas, Sweet Peas, and Salvia 

 skip a true yellow, and Dahlias and Hollyhocks 

 are never blue. Hybridization may introduce a tint 

 approaching the lacking color nearly enough for 

 commercial nomenclature, but not the distinct pri- 

 mary itself. Why this is so remains a problem for 

 science, but the answer will undoubtedly be found 

 meshed in the mazes of plant fertilization by insects. 



For three months these flowers of the sun reign 

 in the meadows, from the May Buttercups until 

 middle August, when the vigor of the composites 

 largely overwhelms the frailer plants. 



The delight of finding the flowers in their 

 haunts never palls; it is renewed like the seasons. 

 But if you wish to make the pleasure keener, it is 

 only necessary to guide to them one who is both 

 enthusiast and novice. Such a one was Flower 

 Hat, of keen ear and color-gauging eye, when I 

 first took her to my beloved sunlit meadows with 

 a June landscape for initiation. Summer, coming 

 in with a swirl, had swept away the Painted Cup, 

 Wild Geranium, Celandine, and Iris or Great Blue 



