Old Flower favorites 185 



cultivated past, or made little preparation for a cher- 

 ished future ; but it certainly was not suited to our 

 garden, where things were not planted for a day. 

 These three are native vines of rich woods in our 

 Central and Western states. The Matrimony-vine 

 was an old favorite ; one from the porch of the Van 

 Cortlandt manor-house, over a hundred years old, 

 is shown on the next page. Often you see a strag- 

 gling, sprawling growth ; but this one is as fine as 

 any vine could be. 



Patient folk as were certainly those of the old- 

 time gardens, tried to keep the Rose Acacia as a 

 favorite. It was hardy enough, but so hopelessly 

 brittle in wood that it was constantly broken by the 

 wind and snow of our Northern winters, even though 

 it was sheltered under some stronger shrub. At the 

 end of a lovely Salem garden, I beheld this June a 

 long row of Rose Acacias in full bloom. I am glad 

 I possess in my memory the exquisite harmony of 

 their shimmering green foliage and rosy flower clus- 

 ters. Miss Jekyll, ever resourceful, trains the Rose 

 Acacia on a wall ; and fastens it down by plant- 

 ing sturdy Crimson Ramblers by its side ; her 

 skilful example may well be followed in America and 

 thus restore to our gardens this beautiful flower. 



One flower, termed old-fashioned by nearly every 

 one, is really a recent settler of our gardens. A pop- 

 ular historical novel of American life at the time of 

 the Revolution makes the hero and heroine play a 

 very pretty love scene over a spray of the Bleeding- 

 heart, the Dielytra, or Dicentra. Unfortunately for 

 the truth of the novelist's picture, the Dielytra was 



