234 



Old Time Gardens 



the green lines have any significance, as have the 

 faint green checkerings of the Fritillary, which I 

 have described elsewhere in this book, they add 

 to its interest ; but ordinarily they make the petals 

 seem undeveloped. The Snowdrop bears the mark 

 of one of the few tints of green which we like in 

 white flowers ; its " heart-shaped seal of green," 



Spring Sncwflake. 



sung by Rossetti, has been noted by many other 

 poets. Tennyson wrote : — 



" Pure as lines of green that streak the white 

 Of the first Snowdrop's inner leaves." 



A cousin of the Snowdrop, is the " Spring Snow- 

 flake " or Leucojum, called also by New England 

 country folk "High Snowdrop." It bears at the 

 end of each snowy petal a tiny exact spot of green ; 



