1 68 POPULAR GARDEN FLOWERS 



The name Myosotis (My-o-so'-tis) comes from mus, a 

 mouse, and otos, an ear, in allusion to the resemblance 

 of the shape of the leaf to a mouse's ear. My lady 

 readers have too great a horror of a mouse, probably, 

 to collect a specimen of it for comparison, and they 

 may be disposed to think that namers of plants must 

 have been sadly lacking in imagination to be driven to 

 such straits for names as this case indicates. Let me 

 assure them, however, that it is a mild offence compared 

 with some which botanists have committed. 



The cultivated Forget-me-nots are essentially flowers 

 of spring. Having no liking for hot weather, they get 

 the best of their blooming done in May, but it must 

 be said in their favour that they do not scramble through 

 as though in nervous terror of sunstroke ; on the con- 

 trary, they grow and bloom deliberately for a good 

 many weeks, and often last into June if allowed, pro- 

 vided that the soil is fertile and moist. It is as spring 

 flowers that we ought to grow them, because the growth 

 is healthy and abundant, and the flowers deliciously 

 bright and sparkling in spring ; moreover, they associate 

 admirably with Tulips. Until they get the exuberance 

 of manhood upon them they are compact growers, and 

 by the time they break bounds and become straggly the 

 bulbs are over, and the Forget-me-nots can be cleared 

 off to make way for the summer occupants of the beds. 



There are few plants so charming for the side of 

 shady banks and dells in cool places. Bits dotted in 

 during October will spread into broad masses in April, 

 and, like their companions, the Primroses and Arabises, 

 they will bloom as they grow. These are the sort of 

 plants that amateur gardeners want. Kinds that give 

 up growing directly they begin to bloom suffer by 

 comparison. 



