Robin Hood's Barn 



fancy hid. She would flaunt such Iceland pop- 

 pies, their flame crinkling through spirea and 

 anthemis so that it leaps more vivid in contrast 

 to cool whiteness and pale buff. And surely 

 columbine — a rare canary, the primroses and 

 golden iris are not so shameful that I must con- 

 ceal illicit fondness for them behind a high green 

 hedge. I protest with news of the late comers 

 who will be my give-aways; hypericvuns that 

 force a gay disclosure, rudbekia that for all their 

 single petals, make a brazen proclamation to the 

 sky. But she will not be convinced of me as a 

 great lover until she finds that I have given blue 

 anchusa to enhance the beauty of a yellow briar 

 rose. 



Fortimately she finds other combinations that 

 grow to prove a greater hardihood and these she 

 eagerly commends. If it so happens that her 

 visit is in early June, there are the Oriental pop- 

 pies, their silver caps a-tmnble on staid spires of 

 lupin or caught in their fall by delicate five- 

 fingered leaves. She, too, has Victoria Louise, 

 though she cannot resist a fallen petal and 

 spreads out on her palm its sheen of salmon 

 [210] 



