58 TOWN AND WINDOW GARDENING 



instance, one could understand the use of national colours 

 in Coronation year, and yearly is London brightened by 

 St. Patrick's Day, St. George's Day, and the unforgettable 

 day of the Primrose. 



It is human nature, and ever has been, to use flowers 

 as symbols ; they express our feelings better than anything, 

 and more pleasantly. Happily, the "wearin' o' the 

 green" is a privilege no longer denied to any of our 

 Irish soldiers. It is a smaller thing, but still worth 

 noticing, as a proof of the part flowers play in daily life, 

 and the way they illustrate feeling, that at the Eton and 

 Harrow cricket-matches it is a flower that is worn for 

 party-colour — a Corn-flower or a Parma Violet — and in 

 a less degree, two shades of blue in flowers stand for 

 Oxford and Cambridge colours on boat-race day. Herein 

 we do but follow the fashion of our forefathers and of 

 days still older, when crowns of Olive, Myrtle, Bay, and 

 Violet were worn symbolically. Time was when rival 

 Roses, red and white, grew wild, and soldiers gathered 

 them for badges, where now the Temple Gardens stand ; 

 and every nation has its patriot flower — for France the 

 Lily, for Germany the Linden, and for us the Rose. It 

 is unfortunate that St. George's festival of Roses comes 

 so early in the year. April Roses are plentiful enough in 

 florists' shops, but not elsewhere ; few of them have been 

 grown in England. Primroses come more seasonably ; 

 of them we need only wear true home-grown blossoms, 

 nor need a scarcity be feared while country hedgerows 

 continue to provide such yellow millions. Primrose 

 Day in London, independently of its meaning, is always 

 enjoyable ; 



"That subtle smell the spring unbinds — 

 The faint sweet scent of Primroses " 



is everywhere, and Primroses, like Violets, want no 

 arranging, but look their best in simplest bunch or basket. 



