174 A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND 
I wish I were better able to serve you either in these bagatelles 
or more weighty occasions : I should with great alacrity and 
satisfaction, I assure you, lay hold on all opportunityes to 
express myselfe how really I am 
“ S r . 
“ Yo r affectionate faithfull servant, 
“ Tho. Hanmer. 
“ My wife and my selfe humbly present o r services to your 
worthy lady, and your selfe, as also to my noble friend S r 
Richard Browne. I convey this letter and the box to you by 
my son Tom Hanmer, who is constantly at his chamber in 
fhg-tree Court in the Inner Temple, and can send your com¬ 
mands to mee at any tyme. You will find in the box some 
very good bear’s ears seed, which you know better to sow 
and order than I can direct.” 
Other flowers mentioned as rarities by Gerard and Parkinson 
had become very generally known. Among the lilies this is 
noticeable : “ The red lily 1 is a flower so vulgar, every country 
woman can form an idea of it in a stranger’s head, by their 
rustick descriptions. . . . Next comes martagans, a rambling 
flower onely fit for flower pots or chimneys, and to be planted 
in by borders or under hedges.” 2 Carnations were still popular 
flowers : “ Caryophyllus hortensis called July flowers, and are 
indeed summer glory as Tulips the pride of the spring . . . the 
nobler sorts which are called Dutch July flowers or more 
vulgarly carnations raised from seeds in the Netherlands and 
other parts adjoining to the sea, and thence conveyed to us.” 3 
The sensitive plant, “ Plant a Mimosa , the sensible or humble 
plant,” was a new acquisition in Charles the First’s time. The 
seeds were “ yearly brought out of America.” 4 This was 
probably one of the tender annuals, for which the hot bed 
would be prepared. Another plant grown in this way was 
Tobacco: u Sow on a hot bed as early as you can after Christ¬ 
mas,” writes Sharrock; “ then plant under South Wall or 
otherwise with hedges or fences of Reed to be defended from 
1 —Lilium canadense rubrum, or L. croceum, or L. pompomium. 
2 Gilbert, ^Florist’s Vade-Mecum . 3 Ibid. 4 Rea. 
