OLD-FASHIONED FLOWERS 233 



shades of blue, with neat white shirts and broad- 

 brimmed straw hats with a touch of blue ribbon 

 on them, they add greatly to the picturesque 

 appearance of a semi-wild part of the garden such 

 as we have been considering. 



Only one very restricted portion of ground is 

 treated in stiff, formal style and this, known as the 

 little " French garden," gay with scarlet geraniums 

 and yellow calceolarias, is kept bright and very 

 spick-and-span throughout spring and summer, so 

 that all may learn how " bedding out " is done. 

 Its central, heart-shaped bed is guarded, upon 

 either side, by two others shaped like fleurs-de-lis, 

 and a long, narrow, square-mesh treillage bower, 

 similar to those simple ones that are shown in 

 Androuet du Cerceau's sixteenth-century French 

 gardens, overshadows a seat, from which other 

 flower and fruit terraces can be seen. 



I think it is Maeterlinck who draws attention to 

 the reason why most of us prefer old-fashioned 

 flowers such as sunflowers, Monarda didyma, lilies, 

 and roses to the begonias and double geraniums 

 that have sprung up in recent years, having won 

 the hearts of certain suburban amateurs by their 

 prolific powers of increase. He says that the 

 reason these long-familiar flowers give joy and 

 happiness is because they bring down to us some 

 reflection of our own ancestors, for we know, in 

 looking at a well-arranged herbaceous border, that 

 many of the plants in it were favourites in days 

 of powder and brocade. This may be partly why 

 we love them, but when it is a question of perennials 

 on borders or in beds and not annuals, I think 



