The Shakespeare Garden 
Much sentiment has from time to time 
been expended on Shakespeare gardens. Priv- 
ate gardens have not persevered with the 
idea for long; but there are public gardens 
in which such gardens are still a feature. 
A casual reading of the plays would indic- 
ate that such a garden would be mostly herbs 
but actually there is a goodly list of trees 
and flowers from which to choose. The crab 
tree mentioned in King Henry VIII. King 
Lear and The Taming of the Shrew was 
doubtless the crab apple a useful trees then 
as now. Apricocks of Midsummer Night’s 
Dream and Richard II were apricots, the 
earliest ripening fruit. The apple-John of 
Henry IV, Pt. 1, were a variety of apple 
that shriveled when stored, so no doubt were 
as juicy as our Delicious. There is also an 
apple, a sweeting, mentioned in Romeo and. 
Juliet which has descendents in this country 
a popular apple for boiling. The pome- 
water of Love’s Labour Lost was also a 
kind of apple. 
The willow garland the emblem of unhap- 
py love occurs in King Henry VI, Pt. iii; 
while the Queen in Hamlet announces Op- 
helia’s tragedy to her brother. 
“There is a willow grows aslant a brook, 
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy 
stream.” 
The lime tree and broom groves occur in 
The Tempest. The lime was the linden or 
plane tret, quite common to-day on the 
eastern shores of America. By some, broom 
groves are held to be the Spartium scoparium, 
or it may mean overgrown with genista, 
either of which would be useful in a garden, 
if controlled. Elder trees occur in Cymbel- 
ine and hawthorn buds are used in The Mer- 
ry Wives of Windsor. There is a cypress 
grove in Coricolanus and yew wood for 
bows in King Richard II. Dian’s buds in 
Midsummer Night’s Dream were probably 
the buds of the Agnus Castus or Chaste 
tree. 
Shakespeare must have known his garden 
for he mentions the dibble for transplanting 
which only the gardener uses. Of herbs 
there was no lack. In a country where 
strewments were an important part of house- 
keeping there could not be too many. Queen 
Elizabeth’s audience chamber was always 
freshly strewn with herbs. Balm, from 
which anointing oil was obtained was among 
these herbs. Its strong lemon flavour was 
exuded when the leaves were crushed. Lav- 
ender, marjoram, savory and mints were no 
doubt used as strewing herbs. Herbs such 
as these are named in A Winter’s Tale, which 
teems with flower references. There is the 
Crown Imperial, the Fritellaria Imperialis, 
early introduced into England from Constant- 
ople...“‘Daffodils 
“That come before the swallows dare, 
and take 
“The winds of March with beauty; vio- 
lets dimer 
...pale primrose, 
... bold oxlips and 
“The Crown Imperial, lilies of all kinds, 
“The flower-de-luce being one...” 
Tht primrose here must be the pale yel- 
low, often called the Beaconsfield. But the 
gold and silver laced that we prize as rar- 
ieties today were said to have been popular 
in Elizabethan England. Fleur-de-lis in 
King Henry V and King Henry VI probably 
referred to the white iris, the emblem of 
France often referred to as lilies. The violet 
was the emblem of faithfulness. Pansies 
by Ann Hanley 
were often called love-in-idleness 
Cupid’s flower,) as well as heartsease. 
Burnet (S. sanguinsorba officinalis) the 
common burnet,, is often found in fields of 
sainfoin which it resembles (King Henry V). 
Caraways in King Henry IV were a kind of 
confection made with the cumin seed of C. 
sativa, an eastern umbelliferous plant with 
aromatic seeds. The plantain leaf mentioned 
in Romeo and Juliet and supposed to be 
useful for the healing of wounds was used in 
this country not so long ago as a relief for 
inflamation. Rue, the herb or grace, of 
King Richard II, A Winter’s Tale, Hamlet 
and All’s Well That Ends Well was the em- 
(being 
blem of repentance. Fennel the emblem of 
flattery is also found in King Richard II. 
it was used in medicine and also in sauce for 
fish as with conger in King Henry IV. 
Rosemary was common at weddings and 
funnerals as a symbol of remembrance and 
is used in A Wintre’s Tale. Some have held 
that gillvors were carnations, but as both 
words are used together in the above play, it 
seems certain that wallflowers are intended. 
In Cymbeline we have marybuds for mari- 
golds. The crow flowers of Hamlet were no 
doubt buttercups. 
In Othello occurs colocynth, the coloquin 
tida or bitter apple, a squash-like plant intro- 
duced from the East and used as a purgative. 
Pumpkin of The Merry Wives was the pump- 
kin. Oxlips of A Midsummer Night’s 
Dream was a variety of cowslip found in 
Continued on Page 72 
Pansy-flowered Calceolaria 
Dippe’s New Double Pouched Strain 
The above piciure shows the new double pouched strain of Calceoiarias aeveloped 
by Dippe Brothers of Germany, during the last five years. 
shown in comparison. 
The old single type is 
There is very little of this seed in the U. S.. it being grown in 
the Russian Zone of Germany. 
Planting Small Seeds in Missouri 
I would like to tell you how I start my 
fine seeds. I use a variety of containers, 
large open mouth jars, bowls with plastic 
covers, ice box dishes with lids, casseroles, 
clay pots or any other container but want to 
have them closed tho, not only for humidity 
but it is a time saver too for busy days, as 
they need so little attention. 
Each person has their favorite medium for 
seeds but I perfer a prepared soil, say, 1 
part sand, 1 part peat and 3 parts good gard- 
en loam. Place a jar on its side, place the 
soil in the bottom, dampened, but not too 
wet. The opening should be large enough to; 
let your hand enter; sow seed thinly on the 
damp soil; put lid on jar and set away in 
light but not sunlight. Soon the wee green 
plants will begin to show and as they grow 
they can take more sun but partial shade, for 
even mature plants, such as Begonias, Glox- 
inias and African Violets is to their liking. 
Learn to know your plants and where one 
location makes one plant happy and another 
plant may not do so well, so shift them a- 
round till all plants are happy. When seed- 
lings begin to need transplanting they cart 
be removed by sliping a knife under’ them 
and lifting them out with the soil. These 
can then be planted in flats or tiny pots but 
they will still need the humidity of their wee 
greenhouse, so tiny pots can be placed in 
large jars or single jars turned up-side-down 
and placed over them. 
In flats, a cellaphane top can be made 
with sticks to hold some in place. At times 
drops of moisture will form inside of- the 
jar or other container used and when it does 
I remove the lid and wipe it off and let the 
air circulate a while, replace lids or covers. 
As a rule they need no extra watering and 
seldom oftener than 5-6 weeks. This alone 
Cnotinued on Page 72 
Use warm water for African Violets. 
