336 Old Time Gardens 



its associations, its adaptiveness. It is such a deco- 

 rative flower, and looks of so much distinction in so 

 many places. It is invaluable to the landscape gar- 

 dener and to the architect; and might be named the 

 wallflower, since it looks so well growing by every 

 wall. I like it there, or by a fence-side, or in a 

 corner, better than in the middle of flower beds. 

 How many garden pictures have Hollyhocks? Sir 

 Joshua Reynolds even used them as accessories of 

 his portraits. They usually grow so well and bloom 

 so freely. I have seen them in Connecticut growing 

 wild — garden strays, standing up by ruined stone 

 walls in a pasture with as much grace of grouping, 

 as good form, as if they had been planted by our 

 most skilful gardeners or architects. Many illus- 

 trations of them are given in this book ; I need 

 scarcely refer to them ; opposite page 334 is shown 

 a part of the four hundred stalks of rich bloom in a 

 Portsmouth garden. There is a pretty semidouble 

 Hollyhock with a single row of broad outer petals 

 and a smaller double rosette for the centre ; but the 

 single flowers are far more effective. I like well the 

 old single crimson flower, but the yellow ones are, I 

 believe, the loveliest; a row of the yellow and white 

 ones against an old brick wall is perfection. I can 

 never repay to the Hollyhock the debt of gratitude 

 I owe for the happy hours it furnished to me in my 

 childhood. Its reflexed petals could be tied into 

 such lovely silken-garbed dolls ; its " cheeses " were 

 one of the staple food supplies of our dolls' larder. 

 I am sure in my childhood I would have warmly 

 chosen the Hollyhock as my favorite flower. 



