Flowers and Gardens 



a single Stock or Wallflower. The broad 

 coloured blade of the petal runs inwards 

 horizontally to the very centre of the 

 blossom, so as to press in close upon the 

 stamens, and then turns downwards with 

 a sudden bend into a long invisible claw. 

 Now take a Saxifrage ; most of the com- 

 mon tufted kinds would do, or the large 

 pink Crassifolia of the gardens, or Saxi- 

 fraga granulata. Here the petal form is 

 entirely different, sloping down gradually 

 like a funnel, and leaving the centre of the 

 flower widely open. Now, in the double 

 flower all this character is lost from the 

 centre of the blossom being choked up, 

 and the clawed and unclawed petals look 

 pretty much alike. 



We have taken double flowers as the 

 furthest point to which the art of gardening 

 carries us, but in highly cultivated single 

 flowers we find the same tendencies, 

 although in a less degree. There is the 

 same general disposition to bring every- 

 thing to the largest possible size and a full 

 rounded shape. And the course here fol- 

 lowed is in the main undoubtedly the right 

 one. But whilst it creates much beauty, 

 it is still attended with losses, though 

 of far less importance than those I have 

 just described. Thus our Wild Pansies 

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