OLD-FASHIONED FLOWERS 
By Eben E. Rexford 
“There’s no time like the old time— 
The time when we were young.” 
CO the poets have written 
^ about the days of our 
youth, and a similar asso¬ 
ciation of pleasant memories 
clings about the flowers that 
grew “in grandmother’s gar¬ 
den,” more years ago than 
most of us like to remember. 
We may have more brilliant 
flowers now-a-days, but none 
more beautiful none, it seems 
to me, quite so companionable. 
They were “ homely” Rowers 
in the best sense of the term- 
flowers we could make friends 
with. About how many of the 
new flowers can that be said ? 
They compel our admiration, 
but they do not win their way 
to our hearts as the old flowers 
did. Perhaps the fault is with 
us. But when we want a 
garden that we can get the 
greatest possible amount of 
enjoyment out of, we are 
always sure to grow old-fash¬ 
ioned things in it. Sturdy, 
self-reliant, easy to grow and 
sure to please—surely the ama¬ 
teur gardener who is planning 
a garden for the coming year 
will do well to make liberal 
use of them. 
Sweet Peas, I am glad to 
say, have won their way back 
to the favor they ought never 
to have lost. They have done 
this by sheer merit. We have 
few flowers of daintier or more 
varied coloring, or more de¬ 
lightful fragrance, and none 
that are more valuable for cut¬ 
ting. 1 hey bloom throughout 
the greater part of the season, 
and can be kept in bloom 
until cold weather if prevented 
from forming seed. Plant 
them deep in the soil—not less than three inches— 
early in the season, as soon as the frost is out of the 
ground. Give them a support of coarse-meshed 
wire netting, unless you prefer to use brush, than 
HOLLYHOCKS 
which nothing suits the sweet 
pea better. On it the vines 
have a grace they never de¬ 
velop on any other support, 
for it allows them to ramble, 
here, there, everywhere with¬ 
out formality or restraint. And 
a sweet pea plant trained in a 
formal fashion is a sight to 
make the gods weep! 
Nasturtiums are becoming 
popular again, and their popu¬ 
larity is well deserved. Bril¬ 
liant as they are in the bed, 
they are less attractive there 
than when cut, and massed in 
a bowl of blue china or clear 
crystal, with a few of their 
own soft green leaves to give 
the contrast and relief neces¬ 
sary to bring out fully the 
richness of their orange and 
scarlet and golden-yellow and 
pale sulphur tints. Half a 
dozen blossoms, with three or 
four leaves, in a slender vase 
of clear glass that allows the 
stems to show through, makes 
a charming ornament for the 
summer breakfast table. It 
seems to bring the fresh, clear, 
crisp coolness of the morning 
into the room with it. 
Balsams—“ lady’s slippers” 
they used to be, in grand¬ 
mother’s day —are delicate, 
dainty flowers that ought to 
be in every garden. Their 
petals are so fragile that they 
will not bear much handling, 
but when the double blossoms 
of pink and white and rosy 
purple and glowing carmine 
cluster so closely along the 
stalks that they seem to have 
been woven into wreaths, they 
are so beautiful that we can 
enjoy them without wanting to 
cut them. But in order to do 
this to the best advantage it is necessary to clip 
away a good many of the leaves along each stalk. 
If we leave them unclipped, they will hide the flowers 
almost completely, they are so plentiful. 
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