OF GARDENS 113 



XLVI 

 OF GARDENS 



GOD ALMIGHTY first planted a Garden. And indeed it is 

 the purest of human pleasures. It is the greatest refresh- 

 ment to the spirits of man ; without which buildings and 

 palaces are but gross handyworks : and a man shall ever see 

 that when ages grow to civility and elegancy, men come to 

 build stately sooner than to garden finely ; as if gardening 

 were the greater perfection. I do hold it, in the royal 

 ordering of gardens, there ought to be gardens for all the 

 months in the year ; in which severally things of beauty 

 may be then in season. For December, and January, and 

 the latter part of November, you must take such things as 

 are green all winter : holly ; ivy ; bays ; juniper ; cypress- 

 trees ; yew ; pine-apple-trees ; fir-trees ; rosemary ; lav- 

 ender ; periwinkle, the white, the purple, and the blue ; 

 germander ; flags ; orange-trees ; lemon-trees ; and myrtles, 

 if they be stoved ; and sweet marjoram, warm set. There 

 followeth, for the latter part of January and February, the 

 mezereon-tree, which then blossoms ; crocus vernus, both 

 the yellow and the grey ; primroses ; anemones ; the early 

 tulippa ; hyacinthus orientalis ; chamairis ; fritellaria. For 

 March, there come violets, specially the single blue, which 

 are the earliest ; the yellow daffodil ; the daisy ; the almond- 

 tree in blossom ; the peach-tree in blossom ; the cornelian- 

 tree in blossom ; sweet-briar. In April follow, the double 

 white violet ; the wall-flower ; the stock-gilliflower ; the 

 cowslip ; flower-de-lices, and lilies of all natures ; rosemary- 

 flowers ; the tulippa ; the double piony ; the pale daffodil ; 

 the French honeysuckle ; the cherry-tree in blossom ; the 

 dammasin and plum-trees in blossom ; the white thorn in 

 leaf; the lilac-tree. In May and June come pinks of all 

 sorts, specially the blush-pink ; roses of all kinds, except 

 the musk, which comes later ; honeysuckles ; strawberries ; 

 bugloss ; columbine ; the French marigold ; flos Africanus ; 

 cherry-tree in fruit ; ribes ; figs in fruit ; rasps ; vine- 

 flowers ; lavender in flowers ; the sweet satyrian, with the 



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