70 Hardy Plants for Cottage Gardens 



tues into public view in an undue struggle to make himself 

 seen and felt in his community. If I were making mulleins, I 

 should guard their youth more carefully, and check the first 

 intimation of headiness. 



Some plants attract one from the beauty of their names. I 

 confess this alone prompted me to buy Stephenandraflexuosa, 

 Zea gracillima variegata, Euphorbia corrolata, Deutzia gracilis, 

 Amaryllis, Asperula azurea setosa, Armeria formosa. Also 

 poetic associations led me to appreciate Amaranthus, Laven- 

 der, Spikenard, Asphodel, Rue, Rosemary. 



As a child I observed the invariable use of the correct botan- 

 ical name of plants by florists and their assistants. A man 

 might speak broken English and be apparently uneducated, 

 but he never condescended to use the common name of a 

 plant. There is an equal reluctance on the part of the general 

 public to adopt the specific name; they accept any makeshift 

 in preference, little realizing that any scientific study, if pa- 

 tiently pursued, shows beneath the dull terminology a vital 

 principle that relates it with the living world. From this 

 point of view, the dryest technical name becomes interesting 

 and significant. They are not mere arbitrary names, but de- 

 scriptive terms that help one to choose exact varieties: thus 

 ruber, rubra, coccinea, car dinalis,ful gens, splendens denote red 

 varieties; albus, alba, albida, nivea, niveus, blanda, candidum 

 represent white; roseus, rosea are rose colored or pink; c&ru- 

 lea, ccdestina, azurea, molacea are blue; aureum, aureus,flava, 

 flavum, luteus, sulphur ea, the yellow; maculata, spotted or 

 streaked with white; argentea, silvery. Common garden va- 

 rieties are indicated by hortensis, vulgaris, qfficinalis. Size is 

 indicated by major or majus, tall; minus, nana, nanus, small. 

 Moschata, fragrans, odorata, odorissima, suaveolens represent 

 fragrant varieties. A climbing variety is scandens, while a 

 creeping one is repens, redinatum. Texture is denoted by 



