Old Flower Favorites 175 



of this plant with special affection or admiration ; 

 but as a child I loved its crimson flower more than 

 any other flower in the garden. Perhaps I should 

 say I loved the royal color rather than the flower. 

 I gathered tight bunches without foliage into a 

 glowing mass of color unequalled in richness of 

 tint by anything in nature. I have seen only in a 

 stained glass window flooded with high sunlight a 

 crimson approaching that of the Mullein Pink. 

 Gerarde calls the flower the " Gardener's Delight or 

 Gardner's Eie." It was known in French as the 

 Eye of God ; and the Rose of Heaven. We used 

 to rub our cheeks with the woolly leaves to give a 

 beautiful rosy blush, and thereby I once skinned 

 one cheek. 



Snapdragons were a beloved flower — companions 

 of my childhood in our home garden, but they 

 have been neglected a bit bv nearly every one of 

 late years. Plant a clump of the clear yellow and 

 one of pure white Snapdragons, and see how beauti- 

 ful they are in the garden, and how fresh they keep 

 when cut. We had such a satisfying bunch of 

 them on the dinner table to-day, in a milk-white 

 glazed Chinese jar ; yellow Snapdragons, with " bor- 

 rowed leaves" of Virgin's-bower \Adlumia) and a 

 haze of Gypsophila over all. 



A flower much admired in gardens during the early 

 years of the nineteenth century was the Plume 

 Poppy {Bocconia). It has a pretty pinkish bloom 

 in general shape somewhat like Meadow Rue (see 

 page 164 and page 167). A friend fancied a light 

 feathery look over certain of her garden borders, 



