Old-Time Gardens, Newly Set ForthEarle, Alice Morse
History
Old-Time Gardens, Newly Set Forth
Earle, Alice Morse
Gardens; Landscape gardening
"Spearmint,
Rew, will hardly grow
Fetherfew prospereth exceedingly;
Southernwood, is no Plant for this Country, Nor
Rosemary. Nor
Bayes.
White-Satten groweth pretty well, so doth
Lavender-Cotton. But
Lavender is not for the Climate.
Penny Royal
Smalledge.
Ground Ivey, or Ale Hoof.
Gilly Flowers will continue two Years.
Fennel must be taken up, and kept in a Warm Cellar all Winter
Horseleek prospereth notably
Holly hocks
Enula Canpana, in two years time the Roots rot.
Comferie, with White Flowers.
Coriander, and
Dill, and
Annis thrive exceedingly, but Annis Seed, as also the seed of
Fennel seldom come to maturity; the Seed of Annis is commonly eaten
with a Fly.
Clary never lasts but one Summer, the Roots rot with the Frost.
Sparagus thrives exceedingly, so does
Garden Sorrel, and
Sweet Bryer or Eglantine
Bloodwort but sorrily, but
Patience and
English Roses very pleasantly.
Celandine, by the West Country now called Kenning Wort grows but slowly.
Muschater, as well as in England
Dittander or Pepperwort flourisheth notably and so doth
Tansie."
These lists were published fifty years after the landing of the Pilgrims
at Plymouth; from them we find that the country was just as well stocked
with vegetables as it was a hundred years later when other travellers
made lists, but the flowers seem few; still, such as they were, they
formed a goodly sight. With rows of Hollyhocks glowing against the rude
stone walls and rail fences of their little yards; with clumps of
Lavender Cotton and Honesty and Gillyflowers blossoming freely; with
Feverfew "prospering" to sow and slip and pot and give to neighbors just
as New England women have done with Feverfew every year of the centuries
that have followed; with "a Rose looking in at the window"--a
Sweetbrier, Eglantine, or English Rose--these colonial dames might well
find "Patience growing very pleasantly" in their hearts as in their
gardens.
[Illustration: Garden at Grumblethorp, Germantown, Pennsylvania.]
They had plenty of pot herbs for their accustomed savoring; and plenty
of medicinal herbs for their wonted dosing. Shakespeare's "nose-herbs"
were not lacking. Doubtless they soon added to these garden flowers many
of our beautiful native blooms, rejoicing if they resembled any beloved
English flowers, and quickly giving them, as we know, familiar old
English plant-names.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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