132 



The Garden Magazine, November, 1921 



of the old London gardener's knowledge and skill. In March 

 we find blooming in Parkinson's own garden "the double blew 

 Hepatica and the white and the blush single, many sorts of 

 Crocuses, double yellow Daffodils, Oriental Jacinths, the Crowne 

 Imperiall, divers sorts of early Tulipas, some sorts of French 

 Cowslips, both tawny, murry and blush, the early Fritillaria or 

 checkered Daffodil, and some other sorts of early Daffodils and 

 many sorts of Anemones." "In April," he continues, " com- 

 meth on the pride of these strangers," and enumerates forth- 

 with such a list of treasures as will make gardeners who are 

 satisfied with their April crop of a handful of Crocuses and Snow- 

 drops and a few Daffodils, sit up and look to their laurels. Else- 

 where in the great book he devotes one hundred and fourteen 

 pages to the description of Tulips, "which are of so many differ- 

 ent colours that it is almost impossible to expresse them." Also 

 he describes 25 kinds of Daffodils, 22 Lilies, 31 Iris, 31 Crocuses, 

 8 Campanulas, 12 Fritillarias, 12 Clematis, 21 Primroses and a 

 like profusion of Roses, Gillyflowers, and innumerable others. 



WHERE GRANDMOTHER'S 

 FAVORITES STILL HOLD 



PLEASING SWAY 

 Larkspur (Delphinium) and 

 Canterbury-bells (Campanula 

 Medium) continue to fill our 

 gardens with the color and charm 

 that delighted our forebears and 

 the trellised Rose still gaily 

 climbs 



Yes, undoubtedly there were 

 plenty of flowers in the old- 

 fashioned garden, but it is 

 nevertheless true that we live 

 in a world to-day where flowers 

 zre not only more numerous and 

 various, but where the best of 

 the old friends have been greatly 

 improved and their sphere of 

 usefulness much extended — here 

 we have distinctly gained, not 

 lost. 



A FEW flowers cherished by 

 an older day have disap- 

 peared and will perhaps, "no 

 more know the dew of gardens " : 

 others like Bouncing Bet and 

 the pretty blue-belled Rampion, 

 have taken to the open road 

 and rejoice in companions as 

 free-thinking as themselves. 

 The garden regrets them not. 

 Some lovely old friends care- 

 lessly regarded by the present 

 age, are worthy of being restored 

 to favor. Notable among these 

 are the old-fashioned Roses — 

 York and Lancaster, the Scotch 

 Briers, the Province Rose, the 

 Damask, Maiden's Blush, and 

 the Persian Yellow, whose place 

 is not filled even by the wonder- 

 ful race of Hybrid Teas and the 

 great variety of hardy Climbing 

 Roses recently developed. 



The little Star-of-Bethlehem 

 is a charming flower of old gar- 

 dens, now seldom seen, to which 

 we might turn gratefully in the 

 present shortage of bulbous 

 plants. Double Rockets it would 

 be pleasant to find more often, 

 and Fair Maids of France; many 

 fragrant herbs such as garden Valerian, Honesty or White 

 Satin, and others. It is rather sad, too, to find the stiff Japanese 

 Spruge (Pachysandra terminalis) more and more asserting itself 

 in shady places where once spread the fine dark green of the 

 friendly little Periwinkle with its wide blue eyes so ready to 

 gleam for us upon the first mild day in spring. Also I do not 

 like the fat double Lilacs of to-day, and to my eye the Delphin- 

 ium has a somewhat diminished grace and charm — put on flesh 

 and lost its winsome curves — but on the whole there is little to 

 complain of and much to rejoice in. 



The Dahlia's advance from soap-like stolidity to the present 

 exquisitely careless assemblage of petals is a triumph. Re- 

 member the terrible commotion of color that used to arise from 

 a mixed packet of Zinnias, and consider the fine color-tones now 

 to be derived from the same source. Think upon the Iris! A 

 whole book must needs be written to describe the wonders 

 that have befallen this simple flower in recent times. And the 

 Phlox, lifted from wayside indigence to its present grand estate! 



Frances Benjamin Johnston., PhotJ 



