336 
Old Time Gardens 
its associations, its adaptiveness. It is such a deco- 
rative flower, and looks of so much distinction in so 
many places. It is invaluable to the landscape gar- 
dener and to the architect ; and might be named the 
wallflower, since it looks so well growing by every 
wall. I like it there, or by a fence-side, or in a 
corner, better than in the middle of flower beds. 
How many garden pictures have Hollyhocks? Sir 
Joshua Reynolds even used them as accessories of 
his portraits. They usually grow so well and bloom 
so freely. I have seen them in Connecticut growing 
wild — garden strays, standing up by ruined stone 
walls in a pasture with as much grace of grouping, 
as good form, as if they had been planted by our 
most skilful gardeners or architects. Many illus- 
trations of them are given in this book ; I need 
scarcely refer to them ; opposite page 334 is shown 
a part of the four hundred stalks of rich bloom in a 
Portsmouth garden. There is a pretty semidouble 
Hollyhock with a single row of broad outer petals 
and a smaller double rosette for the centre ; but the 
single flowers are far more effective. I like well the 
old single crimson flower, but the yellow ones are, I 
believe, the loveliest : a row of the yellow and white 
ones against an old brick wall is perfection. I can 
never repay to the Hollyhock the debt of gratitude 
I owe for the happy hours it furnished to me in my 
childhood. Its reflexed petals could be tied into 
such lovely silken-garbed dolls; its “cheeses” were 
one of the staple food supplies of our dolls’ larder. 
I am sure in my childhood I would have warmly 
chosen the Hollyhock as my favorite flower. 
