2Tf)e .Summer JFlotoer*. 155 



palmata, which does not thrive in this climate. 

 Under cultivation, all the herbaceous spiraeas 

 prefer partial shade, and, to appear at their best, 

 should be supplied with water in hot weather, 

 or their appearance is soon marred by withered 

 foliage. 



What would the old-fashioned garden do 

 without the sweet-william ; and the new-fash- 

 ioned one, too, for that matter ? It is as indis- 

 pensable as the snow-pink, the carnation, and 

 the aster. " Die fallen ins Aug! " they fall into 

 the eye, to quote from the gardener once more, 

 an apothegm I think worth embalming. Gay 

 they are, with their infinite colorings and their 

 prodigality of bloom. The Dianthus are all of 

 them pretty, notwithstanding the interminable 

 appellation of one, Dianthus sinensis Heddewigi 

 diadematus flore pleno ! Leave them alone, and 

 they will sow themselves ; sow the seed on good 

 ground, and they reward you a thousand-fold. 

 They vie with the auriculas in their merry eyes, 

 and are almost as brilliant and fourfold as last- 

 ing as the poppies, unless I except the Iceland- 

 ers. Even the old maids love their sweet-will- 

 iams. In Gerarde's day it was " esteemed for its 

 beauty to deck up the bosoms of the beautiful, 

 and garlands and crowns for pleasure." It is 

 well to caution those who grow it, however, not 



