THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 



ten seeds each. Judge of my amazement and de- 

 light when I saw on each package these words: 

 "Bright Delphinium Blue." What might we not 

 accomplish in gardens with a really blue Sweet 

 Pea ! Visions of clouds of azure flowers to bloom 

 after Delphiniums had passed and hover over rose- 

 colored Phloxes, above violet petunias, and so on, 

 came with exciting clearness to my mind, and as 

 the great day drew near for the opening of the 

 first bloom of Mrs. Tom Jones I visited my six- 

 foot row of plants every few hours. To what dis- 

 appointments are we gardeners doomed ! Fancy 

 mine when I not only could not see in the first 

 open Sweet Peas here the blue I had expected, but 

 on comparing it with the two color charts, the 

 flower fell distinctly in the class of violets. 



Here I draw a long breath, and say to myself: 

 "Can others feel as strongly as I do on such a 

 subject as the color of one small flower.?" I 

 think how foolish such excitement over details 

 must seem to colder, clearer minds than mine, and 

 I am reminded of a charming letter from an Eng- 

 lishman, a writer on gardening, who after reading 

 this very book wrote me as follows: 



"I don't find you guilty of cant, not so far, but 

 you had better take care, because I am quite sure 

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