176 Old Time Gardens 



and she planted plentifully Plume Poppy and 

 Meadow Rue; this was in 1 895. In 1896 the effect 

 was exquisite; in 1897 the garden feathered out 

 with far too much fulness; in 1901 all the com- 

 bined forces of all the weeds of the garden could 

 not equal these two flowers in utter usurpment and 

 close occupation of every inch of that garden. 

 The Plume Poppy has a strong tap-root which 

 would be a good symbol of the root of the tree 

 Ygdrassyl — the Tree of Life, that never dies. 

 You can go over the borders with scythe and spade 

 and hoe, and even with manicure-scissors, but roots 

 of the Plume Poppy will still hide and send up 

 vigorous growth the succeeding year. 



We have grown so familiar with some old doubled 

 blossoms that we think little of their being double. 

 One such, symmetrical of growth, beautiful of foliage, 

 and gratifying of bloom, is the Double Buttercup. 

 It is to me distinctly one of our most old-fashioned 

 flowers in aspect. A hardy great clump of many 

 years' growth is one of the ancient treasures of our 

 garden ; its golden globes are known in England as 

 Bachelor's Buttons, and are believed by many to be 

 the Bachelor's Buttons of Shakespeare's day. 



Dahlias afford a striking example of the beauty of 

 single flowers when compared to their doubled de- 

 scendants. Single Dahlias are fine flowers, the yellow 

 and scarlet ones especially so. I never thought 

 double Dahlias really worth the trouble spent on 

 them in our Northern gardens ; so much staking 

 and tying, and fussing, and usually an autumn storm 

 wrenches them round and breaks the stem or a frost 



