WHAT FLOWERS WILL GROW IN THE SHADE ? 259 



found in certain families of plants. For example, 

 although we have grand crimson shades in the Rose, 

 there is yet no approach to scarlet as seen in Salvia 

 splendens (Scarlet Sage), nor any yellow in the Geranium 

 at all approaching to the yellow of the yellow Calceolaria. 

 But there are yet some of our best florists, who watch, 

 year after year, the seedlings they raise; with the hope 

 vain I much doubt that their eyes will be regaled with 

 the vision of a scarlet Rose or a yellow Geranium. The 

 alchemists of old, in their endeavors to turn the baser 

 metals into gold, by their experiments greatly benefited 

 the science of chemistry. So do these sanguine florists 

 benefit horticulture by producing improved varieties, 

 though they are likely never to attain the object of their 

 solicitude. 



CHAPTER L. 

 WHAT FLOWERS WILL GROW IN THE SHADE ? 



The question "What flowers will grow in the shade ?" 

 is put to me every spring by scores of city people, whose 

 little patch which they wish to devote to flowers is so 

 walled np by neighboring houses, that the direct rays 

 of the sun never touch it. But few plants will develop 

 their flowers there, and none will do it so well as if it were 

 lighted up by sunshine a part of the day. Fuchsias, 

 Pansies, Forget-me-nots, Violets, Lobelias, Lily-of-the- 

 Valley, Hollyhocks, Phloxes, and other herbaceous plants 

 whose native habitat is a shady wood, will do best, but 

 even these languish if denied all direct sunlight. The 

 best effect in such situations is produced by ornamental- 

 leaved plants, the beauty of which is not dependent 



