22 BOOK OF OLD-FASHIONED FLOWERS 



gardens should become, not gardeners only, but also 

 botanists and students of poetry and of beautiful form. 



In spite of Shakspere's omission, then, I advise every- 

 one to grow many species of Snowdrops ; indeed, for a 

 week or two in February, my friend's sea-side garden 

 seems to be all draped with their green leaves and serene 

 green- white "drops," yet not one podgy, graceless double 

 flower is there among them all. For he agrees with 

 Forbes Watson that the " doubling " of beautiful flowers 

 generally results in deformity and the destruction of all 

 beauty and meaning. Double Roses, Pinks, and Carna- 

 tions, he grows of course ; for their fragrance, their 

 history, and, in the case of Roses, their continuous bloom 

 compensate to some extent for the loss of character in 

 the petals, and for the " pen-wiper" appearance which 

 has only too often been given to the individual flowers. 



To return to the Shakspere garden, one finds that 

 Shakspere's floral year practically began with the 

 Daffodil. 



*• when Daffodils begin to peer, 

 With heigh 1 the doxy o'er the dale, 

 Why, then comes in the sweet o' the year. " 



The yellow Crocus seems to have been introduced 

 into English gardens whilst Shakspere was writing his 

 plays, and there was then, alas, no Gardeners' Chronicle 

 to bring him the news. Gerard describes it as having 

 " flowers of a most perfect shining yellow colour, seeming 

 afar off to be a hot glowing coal of fire. That pleasant 

 plant was sent unto me from Robinus, of Paris, that 

 painful and most curious searcher of simples." What 

 pictures are summoned before our minds' eyes even by 

 the few words just quoted: "pleasant plant;" "sent 

 unto me from Robinus of Paris;" "that painful and 

 most curious searcher of simples." Each phrase shows 

 a type of mind or a view of life. 



