^ The Scented (jarden ^ 



Pink - of - my - John, and Call - me - to - you. Pansies are 

 amongst our oldest favourites in the garden, and our 

 Anglo-Saxon ancestors called the flower * bone-wort.' We 

 do not know for how many centuries the flower has been 

 associated in fairy lore with the magical qualities which 



Oberon ascribed to 



c the little western flower 



Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound, 

 And maidens call it love-in-idleness.' 



As early as January the first primroses shine forth in 

 their ethereal loveliness, but they never attain their full 

 beauty till April sun and showers have developed their 

 soft beautiful leaves. Woodland primroses are such shy 

 flowers that they never look quite at their ease in gardens 

 except in a wild part or on a bank. What is the colour of 

 the primrose ? There is an exceeding softness and deli- 

 cacy about the flowers, enhanced by the down of their 

 stalks and the faint green of the under surfaces of their 

 leaves. About them is the mystery and purity of the far 

 expanses of the gardens of space. In the pure light of 

 their petals they seem to reflect the luminous majesty of 

 the flowers in the starry meadows of the Pleiades. How 

 curiously arresting is the pale yet vivid green eye of the 

 primrose with its circle of orange. Violets' eyes are full 

 of dreams, aconites' of demure laughter, wood anemones' 

 of fairy secrets, but in the delicate sensitive eye of the 

 primrose there is something of almost human appeal. It 

 is sweet and grave and child-like, thoughtful without a 

 trace of sadness. Beyond all this is the elusive other- 

 world expression which always baffles us. We may look 

 at them, but their eyes never meet ours. The first 

 ambassadors of spring in the woodlands bring with them 



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