Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 November 1895 — Nosegays of the Past. [ARTICLE]

Nosegays of the Past.

Most things move in cycles, and contemporaneously with the reappearance of our grandmothers’ sleeves and petticoats the taste for old-fashioned gardens is revived. There is a fresh call for the perennials and annuals which enlivened the borders of long ago, aud those who are fortunate enough to still possess these old-time gardens show with pride the long-treasured plants which have bloomed for so many years. We are apt to think that we know a good deal more about flowers than our progenitors, but the fact is there was, perhaps, more variety than there is to day in many of their collections. Much time is given now to the development of perfect specimens and to the cultivation of new varieties, both in greenhouse and garden, but if we were to look over some of the venerable catalogues we should find that if we planted all that our grandsires did we should have our hanfis and gardens full, without anything new. A garden guide printed in 1806 gives a list of 400 hardy perennials, with 120 annuals.