the rest snow white and as thick and double as the Peach or blew coloured but more rarely met withal and therefore more regarded yet all of them the prettiest beauties the Spring at her first approach exposes to our veiw The single sort of them valued for the seeds they bear from which being sown varieties are expected they must be planted in rich well dunged Soil they are increased by parting their roots when grown into several heads Their seeds to be sowed in August in Cases or least exposed beds to the cold winds and frosts Fail not when the single kinds have near lost their beauty to tie up the stalks bearing flowers to a small stick thrust in the ground to prevent the seed Vessels falling to the ground and so either rotting the little pods before the seed ripen or your loosing the seed out of them when ripe at least the best of it before you are aware These are the prettiest beauties of the Spring Cloath'd in red-white Vltramarine mantling MARCH APRIL Hyacinths are bulbous rooted with many fat fibres under them from whence spring five or six leaves of a light green tho at first reddish they are gutter'd on the upper side Of these there are the Hyacinthus Muscari flore flavo they ellow Muscary or Musk grape flower with a long round root from whence a weakish stalk headed with many flowers like little bottles of a fair yellow colour and muskish scent Muscari flore Cineritio like the last but lesser and paler leaves the flowers of a faint Ash colour as sweet if not sweeter than the former Muscari flore rubro the red Muscari with flowers of a pale bleak white and of a strong Musky scent Hyacinthus comosus ramosus purpureus elegantior fair hair'd branch'd fair curl'd hair'd the first hath broader leaves than any of the former standing up but hollow like the rest the stalk near half yard high branched on every side with many tufts at the ends ends of a dark murry purple The second like the other only the flower consists of a bush of many branches divided into divers long curled threds or hairs whence its name the flower and top of the stalk of a fine bright murrey purple a fine strange flower Hyacinthus stellatus major Peruanus flore albo flore carneo The great starry Hyacinth of Peru like the Muscarini root and leaves whence a short stalk from the middle whereof to the top upon long foot stalks many blew flowers star-like with some blew threds hung with yellow pendants standing about middle head The white lesser than the former leaves lighter green The flowers white with a shew of blush at the bottom The blush like the other but the flower of a fine purplish blush colour Hyacinthus stellatus Lilifolio radice cerulea The blew lilly-leav'd starry Hyacinth the root like that of the white Lilly but smaller and longer thence leaves broad and short the stalk foot high bearing many star-like flowers of a light blew colour with six short leaves in the middle standing like a Cup Of this kind two other sorts differing only from the former in that the one is white the other blush but flowers not till May the others sooner The roots of these lose not their fibres therefore not endure long out of the earth nor to have their fibres broken when removed and this is to be done in August but the most rare is Hyacinthus Indicus tuberosa radice The great Indian tuberose rooted Hyacinth a thick knobbed root fashion'd into several heads with many fibres underneath it hence rise several strong stalks and tall set with several fair long and broad green leaves joined at the bottom close to the stalk where they are biggest diminishing even to the top gradually where stand many flowers fair and large of six white leaves spreading open like those of the white Daffodil with some short threds in the middle strong and sweetly scented there is a smaller kind and differs only in that but this Hyacinth is yearly to be taken up in April and the roots carefully parted lest the great fibres be bruised or broken and thus replanted let the bottom of the Pot be rich earth the middle natural fresh earth in which place your Root and distended fibres covering them with some of the same earth then fill up the Pot with the same rank earth as laid at the bottom to nourish the fibres sink the Pot into a hot bed that begins to languish in its heat let it there abide without watering till the roots spring then take it out and place it under a South Wall watering it in dry weather house it in September and preserve it from wet and cold the fresh leaner earth about the root makes it the apter to bear and rank earth to of set plant your Muscari in a warm place and defend it from Winters cold Hyacinthus Botroides caeruleus amaenus flore albo sky white grape-flower blush branched flore rubente ramosus The first of these the sky coloured grape-flower cometh up with three green leaves sometimes four and guttur'd like the former from a round white root a stalk about half a foot high bearing many flowers set together like a small bunch of grapes in form like the Muscary but lesser of a fine pale blew or sky colour of a soft sweet scent The white like the former The blush bigger in all its parts with flowers of a pale bleak blush colour The branched differs in that the flowers grow along the stalk in branches of a blew colour and bigger in flowers stalks leavs and roots But I shall next speak of the more to be preferred Oriental Hyacinths As first Zumbul Indi The great Oriental Hyacinth that cometh up with a spled stalk broad long green leavs bearing on a strong stalk many fair long blewish purple flowers opening into six small leaves turning back again as all the Orientals do the root big round covered with a reddish purple Coat Of this kind one beareth double flowers and many that I shall not insist on some but name cheifly differing in the colour of the flowers Some of a pale deeper blew with stripes down the backs of the leaves of the flowers Some wholly white others of a fine blush their roots losing their fibres may as the Tulips be taken up and kept dry causing them to be more respected having all a sweetish scent The Caelestial Hyacinth of a pale sky or blew color like the Zumbul Indi but bigger in all its parts often coming up with two stalks each bearing many large flowers Hyacinthus Orientalis brumalis white early Hyacinth Hyacinthus Orientalis flore pleno caeruleo fair double blew Hyacinth Hyacinthus Orientalis candidus flore pleno pure white double Ori. Hyacinthus stellatus flore cinereo Ash colour starry Hyacinth Hyacinthus stellatus vulgaris common blew starry Hyacinth Hyacinthus stellatus flore albo the white starry Hyacinth Hyacinthus stellatus precox the early blew starry Hyacinth There is
side whence rises one or two naked stalks five or six inches high bearing at the tops divers smal flowers like Auricula's but hang their heads of a dark purple with a smal white eye and some threds in the middle seeding like Auricula's the root a thick tuft of small whitish strings fastned to a head the leaves perish and renew at spring t is raised by feed set in a pot and ordered in the winter as the last Corona-Imperialis The Crown Imperial of which tho Mr. Woldridge gives his opinion in these words they are but dull flowers There is no sound Florist of his Judgment it being the most stately majestically graceful of any plant in being It hath a large round yellow root scenting like a Fox from whence springs a strong tall stalk adorned up to the middle thereof with long shining green leaves from thence to the top Scepter like is naked bearing there a tuft of smaller green leaves under them seven eight nine or ten flowers according to the age of the root hanging down round about the stalk each flower fashioned like a Lilly consisting of six leaves on the dark stalk of an Orange colour with deeper coloured veins on the outside on that part next the stalk are eminences or bunches each leaf one containing in the inside of them drops of sweet tasted clear water pearl like each flower in the middle having a stile compassed with six white chives and tipt with yellow pendents upon a stalk of the same colour Corona Imperialis Flore multiplici The double Crown Imperial differing only in the doubleness of the flower from the last having constantly fifteen or more leaves in a flower as many flowers in the head and longer lasting than the single the tuft on the top bigger the single one is common yet no dull flower this is of more esteem and a gallant plant deserving it a good encreaser Flore luteo The yellow Crown Imperial differing only from the first described single one in its flowers being of a fair yellow colour on a stalk green as its leaves by which t is known in its coming up this is a tenderer plant than the other and more rare and esteemable a very slow encreaser I have one as double of this kind as the double Orange coloured one which must be the rarest of its species Tho this year from an old root that bore constantly single Orange coloured flowers came some of them double and others striped with yellow from the seed of which I doubt not but to raise some fine variety These flower in the end of March and beginning of April they are encreased by offsets that yearly come from the old roots which lose their fibres as often and may be taken up after the stalks are dryed down which will be in June and kept out of the ground till August at which time they must be set again the double Orange coloured and the yellow shew finely intermixed and very well become the middle of a flower-pot The double bear seeds and from the common single one small hopes the seeds of the yellow when attainable for 't is a nice plant seldome offsetting and as seldome seeding give the greatest expectations when sown of new varieties Great stately plant of most Majestick form The Gardens of the ingenious dost adorne That King-like stands superiour to the rest Esteemed right by a right knowing breast Crowned with thy own worth as well as flowers Detracting pens nere pierce thy regal Towers But their discretion whilst they are speaking things Are mean of Crowned flowers as well as Kings In this month of April appears the double flowered Cherry in blossom graft this and the Flanders cluster Cherry on the same block to which set and spread against a wall each mixed will shew well and create wonder in some Syringa laciniatis foliis sive gelsiminum persecum The blew Syringa with cut leaves or Persian Jasmine in this season flowers it comes up with many small woody branches beset with fine green leaves small long cut in and divided almost to the middle rib some into three small leaves on a side and a larger at the point others into two some but one on each side and the bigger at the end at the end of the branches come forth the flowers many together fashion'd like those of the ordinary blew Syringa or Lilac but smaller and of a finer purplish blew colour and better scented and is encreased by laying down the branches or by cuttings apt enough to root and thrive Lylac five Syringa Flore caeruleo The blew Syringa or Pipe tree is too common to describe it but there are other kinds of it that are worth our notice and collection viz. that which is snow white another silver colour i. e. white with a light wash of blew the last with fair purple coloured flowers growing more upright bearing more and fairer flowers on one branch than any of the former all flowring in this month they must yearly be discharged of their suckers lest they choake the Tree and kill it or cause it not to bring forth flowers they are all hardy plants except the white which is more tender and would be planted against a Wall Hypericum frutex Woody Saint Johns woort hath two hundred and three or more woody stalks rising about a yard high beset at certain distances with tufts of small green leaves and amongst them in the end of this month many small flowers white and a little purple in the middle a pretty plant endures the Winter and is encreased by layers Laurus Tinus The wild bay spread on a Wall grows five or six foot high full of branches at every joynt two smooth longish dark green coloured leaves at the top of the branches come forth great tufts of small white flowers with blush edges succeeded by small blew berries wherein the seeds are contained there 's another called Laurus Tinus Folio glabro differs only from the other in that the leaves are larger of a brighter green fairer flowers bigger and whiter than the former Laurus Tinus Lusitanica The wild Bay of Portugal hath leaves harder fuller of veins of a brown green colour the flowers inclining to purple the berries like but smaller than the former I place these in this Month ' cause now in their greatest beauty tho they flower not till winter Ornithogalum Luteum The yellow Starr of Bethlehem rises at first with one long round greenish leaf which openning a little above the ground yeildeth another small leaf shorter than the first whence rises a stalk four or five inches high bearing at the top four or five small leaves and among them four or five small yellow starlike flowers a small greenish line down the backs of the leaves and some small reddish threds in the middle small round white and clear root tho each year loses it fibres yet will not abide but little time out of the ground this may be set amongst other tender roots that
take my fancy in versifying Of all the plants that Tellus Bosome yeilds In Cyprian Gardens or Thessalian Feilds None with the Noble Tulip may compare For numerous distinctions colours rare These are those Lillies such a dress put on Excel'd the Royal Robes of Solomon And Eastern Queens did in their pride confess At sight of these their bravery to be less Yet there are some who think themselves as wise Their Innocence and beauty both despise And rate the Jewels both of Earth and Skies Just as the Cock the pretious stone did prize Such are their eyes and such their Judgment too They see and know as common Brutes now do But wise Natures Servant more knowing Man These rarer objects best distinguish can Whose clearer judgment guides his choice in all The glories that adorne this Earthly Ball And he concludes who likest is to know These are the Flowers that make the richest show And that there 's nothing offered to our eyes That nature sheweth more or richer dies Presuming Painters find their skil out-done At sight of these so pensil'd by the Sun That Paterzeger doth himself confess He colours wants their glories to express When Poets strive their braveries to reherse In towering strains of emulating verse The want of words soon makes their Muse dispair Not reach their worth or speaking them less fair I 'le then conclude as reason bids me do The Sun 's best Poet and best Painter too And offer up to him my humble praise Who first this Painter made then gilds his raies Raising by influences and kindly glems These flowers in prime stand vying with his beams Till by his powerful heat are forc'd to hide In earthy Beds whence sprang their heads and pride Bids him good night and dares no more to peep Till the next year he rouzes them from sleep Frittillaria the Frittillaries flowring with Tulips must next be mention'd having small round roots and white made of two pieces as if joined together or cleft in the midst whence springs a stalk foot high or more with some few long leaves here and there dispersed at the top thereof out from amongst three or four green hollow long sharp pointed leaves cometh the flower hanging like the ordinary Crown Imperial of six leaves of several colours as Frittillaria Vulgaris the common chequer'd Frittillary of a sullen reddish purple colour checquer'd with a deeper the inside lighter than either with a stile and six chives tipt with yellow pendents when the roots are old they will bear two or three flowers on a stalk Flore duplici albicante The double blush Frittillary fashioned like the former but double consisting of twelve leaves or more of a pale purple or blush colour spotted as the other Alba the white Frittillary like the last but out and inside of a perfect yellow Flore Luteo yellow Frittillary the dark red Frittillary dusky red on the out and blood red on the inside Maxima rubra the great red Frittillary bigger than the last in all it parts and better flower but as the rest soon decaying These are the sorts with small roots sharp pointed green leaves and large flowers There is another sort with bigger roots whiter green leaves and round pointed and different fashion'd small flowers viz. Frittillaria Flore Luteo major the great yellow Frittillary hath a bigger and broader root than any of the former leaves broader shorter and round pointed stalk above two foot high of a whiter green the flower long small and of a faint yellow colour Flore luteo punctato The spotted yellow Frittilary leaves like the last flower bigger and longer of a pale yellow diversly spotted and checquer'd Lutea Maxima Italica The great yellow Italian Frittillary hath darker green leaves longer flower of a dark yellowish purple spotted or Checquered with red Angusti folia exotica viridi albicante multiplex The exotick narrow leav'd Frittillary with a whitish green double flower Lutea junci folia Lusitanica The small yellow Frittillary of Portugal a small yellow flower but more Checquered than any of the yellow ones Pyrenaea The black Frittillary like the yellowish green but that the stalk and flowers are shorter and of a dark sullen blackish green colour Hispanica umbellifera The Spanish black Frittillary differs only from the last it being bigger and bearing four or five flowers hanging round about the stalk like those of the Crown Imperial These flowers like Tulips lose their fibres as soon as their stalks withered down and may then be taken up or any time before August but must not be taken up too soon or kept too long out of the ground take them up therefore not before July nor keep them up longer than August lest thereby the roots perish or be much weakend by it the seeds of the best sorts of these flowers sown after the manner directed for Tulips give great hopes of new diversities these mentioned are considerable ones and would be more taking but that they flower when greater beauties shew their faces viz. Tulips But why should any thing int's kind be scornd Shall none go plain cause others more adorn'd Those that han't heard the Parrots pratling words Think the Jack-daw or Mag-py pretty birds Or have not seen the Alamodes of France Swear none so gay as at a Morrice dance And they that cannot judge rich Tulips worth For choicest Flower shall pick the Fools Coat forth Any thing that 's Checquer'd with several dies Doth soonest take and please the vulgar eyes Then Frittillaries raise those heads hang down The Skilful knows your worth tho not the Clown Let Tulips vant it in their glittering show You near akin cal'd checquer'd Tulips too Lucoium majus Bulbosum serotinum The great late flowering Bulbous Violet this might have been mentioned at the beginning with its lesser kind that flowers in January but then I should not have followed my proposed method in treating of them as they flower which this does in May bearing upon a two foot stalk in height six or seaven flowers hanging their heads containing six small white leaves each end tipt with green the flowers withered leave a small pod or seed vessel when ripe yeild many round shining black seeds as big as small Fetches which soon may produce varieties the root like a Daffodil's and apt to offset losing its fibres may therefore be taken up and ordered as others that have the same quality in this Months flowers Oleaster exoticus The strange wild Olive having woody shoots of a dark or yellowish colour set with long narrow whitish green leaves bearing along the branches small greenish yellow coloured flowers succeded by green berries like small Olives which when ripe are of a reddish colour the whole plant of a sweet and pleasant scent and is increased by layers or cuttings MAY Lucoium THE Stock-Gilliflower The best sorts thereof being grateful both to the smell and sight as well as affection of every Florist and as it flowers it claims the next noticeing leaving
two of like colours together the well-placing them much advances their prospect to the eye and commends the disposer of them Let none of your Rose-trees grow high which is disgraceful rather lower than above yard and half except your Musk-Roses which bear not well except against a wall pale or house-side and suffered to grow to their full height which usually is eight or nine foot high These Dew-empearled Muskie fragrant perfuming flowers deserve the most principal place among all others whatsoever being not only esteemed for its beauty vertues and odoriferous scents but because it is the honour and ornament of our English Scepter as by the conjunction in the uniting of those two most Royal Houses of York and Lancaster appears and claim the chiefest places in Crowns and Garlands witness Anacreon a Greek Poet whom Henricus Stephanus thus rendred in Latine verse Rosa honos decusque florum Rosa cura amorque Veris Rosa Caelitum voluptas Roseis puer Cithereis Caput implicat Coronis Charitum Choros frequentans The Rose is the Honour and Beauty of flowers The Care and Love of the Spring it devours Of the Poets Heavenly Powers the pleasure Cytherea's Boy eke Cupid his Treasure Circling with Garland of Roses his Head When he to Dances of Graces doth tread You may mislike my thus Translating them and perhaps my own following fancie worse however they shall run the venture though hopping pen-feather'd out of their nest Venus upon a Bed of Roses laid Dul'd Ascanius so long with her he plaid Reposing on a soft as sweet a Bed As that whereon she cropt his Maiden-head They both invited sleep and there he lay Till rest enabled him for farther play Thus Sight Touch Scent of Roses in their uses Refreshes Nature and new strength infuses Who would not then these sweet-leav'd flow'rs esteem So rare when either felt or smelt or seen And wish this greater than hath yet oretane us Double nay Treble blessing of Ascanius JVNE IN this Month the Lillies are in their full flower before the Martagons and first to be mentioned to wit Lilium Rubrum The Red Lilly the flower so vulgar every Countrey-woman can form an Idea of it in a strangers head by their Rustick descriptions and several other sorts thereof which are here regardless There are three sorts that are mentionable the Red Yellow and White as Lilium Cruentum bulbi ferum The fiery red bulby Lily bearing on a high stalk many fair flowers containing six broad thick leaves of a fiery red at the tops declining towards the bottom to an Orange-colour with small black specks Lilium Rubrum flore pleno The double red Lily beareth many Orange-colour'd single flowers on a stalk with small brown specks on the insides sometimes but one fair double flower as if all the rest were there concatenated Lilium Luteum The yellow Lily of all the kinds most esteemable like the other but taller and bigger many flowers on a stalk of a fine gold-colour Lilium Album vulgare The common white like the common red needs no farther noticing Lilium album Bizantium The white Lily of Constantinople is smaller in all its parts than the common white but bears more flowers twenty or thirty on a stalk sometimes the stalk comes flat and broad with one hundred or more flowers on it Lilium album flore pleno The double white Lily in all things like the common kind the flowers excepted which are five or six on a stalk each constantly double the leaves long green ere they turn white and open seldom opening at all but in a fair season more a rarity for the double flowers than beautiful There is Lilium Persicum The Persian Lily rooted like the Crown Imperial but longer smaller and whiter from whence springeth up a round whitish green stalk beset with many long whitish green leaves from the bottom to the middle thereof from thence to the top with many small flowers hanging their heads containing six leaves apiece of a dead or over-worn purple-colour with a Pointil and Chives in the middle tipt with yellow Pendents but this flower is in May a flower of small beauty and onely entertained for variety its heavy colour setting off others that are more brisker Next come the Martagons a rambling flower onely fit for flower-pots or Chimneys and to be planted in by-borders or under hedges but the blossoms of many and pretty varieties as Martagon Imperiale The Martagon Imperial sealy Root of a pale yellow stalk above a yard high brownish colour at some distances beset with single rounds of broad green leaves and naked betwixt at the top of the stalk come forth in an old Plant sometimes one hundred flowers each on a several foot-stalk hanging down their heads and turning the leaves back again which are thick and fleshy of a pale purple-colour with brown spots on the inside a stile in the middle with six yellow Chives tipt with Vermilion Pendants Martagon flore albo the White Martagon differs from the last in a greener stalk fewer flowers and white flower Martagon flore albo maculato The White Martagon spotted differs from the former in the stalk being brown flowers inclining to a blush-colour with many red spots on the inside Martagon Canadense maculatum The spotted Martagon of Canada this bears four or five flowers on long foot-stalks in form like a Red Lily having the head of a fair yellow with many black spots on the inside Chived and Pointil'd like the rest the root smaller and stalk lower Martagon Constantinopolitanum The Martagon of Constantinople yellowish scaly root brownish stalk large round-pointed green leaves confusedly placed thereon on the top whereof come forth four or five more or fewer flowers on long foot-foot-stalks hanging their head the leaves turning back again of a fair Orange colour with a Pointel and six Chives tipt with yellow Pendants this is very common but those follow are not as Martagon Constantinopolitanum maculatum The red spotted Martagon of Constantinople like the last but larger flowers more on a head of a deeper Orange-colour thick speckled on the inside with small black spots Martagon Pannonicum The Martagon of Hungary than the last larger leaves thinner set flowers bigger of a bright pale Orange colour the best and rarest of all the Martagons Martagon Virginianum The Virginian Martagon pale yellow scaly root the stalk rises yard-high beset with sharp-pointed whitish green leaves in rundles the head bearing three or four or more somewhat large flowers turning back of a gold yellow colour with many brown spots about the bottom of the flowers the points or ends of the leaves that turn up of a red or scarlet colour without spots a very tender Plant and must be defended from winters frosts Martagon Pomponion The Martagon of Pompony yellowish brown scaly root stalk yard-high set promiscuously with many small long green leaves almost to the top where stand many flowers according to the age of the Plant some standing long unremoved have
born a hundred flowers of a yellowish Orange-colour with small black specks on the inside fashion'd like the red Martagon of Constantinople but smaller There is also the yellow Martagon without spots and the yellow spotted Martagon but of no great esteem and onely for variety admitted as some of the others are your choicest is that of Canada and Virginia and must be planted in the richest and hottest earth you can get in boxes or pots to be so housed as to be kept from freezing in the winter The Lilies and most of the Martagons flower in June but the Martagon of Pompony first in the end of May that of Constantinople about the beginning of July the Virginian last in August All except what before-mentioned very hardy Plants increase but too fast by the roots which hold their fibres and therefore like not often removing but when occasion fer it the best time when their stalks dryed down for then the roots have fewest fibres the roots ought to be set five inches deep in the Earth that should be every year uncover'd tâ— the bottoms that without stirring the fibres of the old roots the young ones may be parted from them and they only remain with new rich earth put to them and cover'd which will much advantage the fairness and number of their flowers your young roots disposed in some other place convenient considering the height they grow to and great increasing not keeping them out of the ground The Moly in this season is in flower from the beginning to the end of the Month chiefly Moly Homericum The great Moly of Homer that riseth up with two or three great thick long hollow leaves of a whitish green colour like the Tulip-leaves from amongst which the stalk rises above a yard-high naked round and smooth bearing on the top a great Umbel or Tuft of small star-like purplishflowers upon equal-footed stalks which continue long before the decay the root big and white and of the smell of Garlick Moly Indicum The Indian Moly hath shorter though broader leaves than the former the stalk not so high as its leaves without any flowers bearing a cluster of reddish scaly bulbs each as big as an Acorn standing on foot-stalks which set will bring Plants of the same kind great white Root covered with a dark-colour'd Coat little increasing under ground Moly Montanum Pannonicum The Moly of Hungary of two sorts the first hath three or four long and broad green leaves carried up with the stalk a foot high one above another beset at the top with some reddish bulbs with long foot-stalks with flowers of a pale purple fashioned like Homers Moly the root small and apt to increase the second like the first but the green leaves smaller the stalk bearing a greater cluster of dark green bulbs flowers alike in fashion colour and in a manner of growing the root wearing a dark purple-coat Moly Serpentinum Serpents Moly like the former but more beautiful the bulbs on the head of a lower stalk are redder the small green leaves twine and crawl like a Serpent therefore so named the root small and round increasing into many smaller ones no bigger than pease Moly Montanum flore luteo The yellow Moly when it flowers hath two long and broad leaves otherwise but one near the bigness of a Tulip between which cometh up a slender stalk bearing at the top a tuft of yellow star-like flowers greenish on the back with yellow threds in the middle whitish Root apt to increase smelling strong as the flowers and leaves do of Garlick Moly Montanum latifolium Hispanicum The Spanish purple Moly hath two long broad leaves betwixt which rises the stalk two foot high bearing at the top many star-like flowers of a decayed purple-colour with threds of the same tipt with yellow yielding near the ground bulbs by which they are increased having no scent of Garlick in any part Moly Pyxidatum argenteum Hispanicum The silver-cupped Spanish Moly with two or three long rushlike leaves passing away when the stalk at its height which is a yard or more bearing a great head of flowers which at length spread much open and grow long on foot-foot-stalks of a silver-colour with lines on both sides the leaves fashioned small and hollow like a Cup white and clear root apt to increase without any ill scent in any part Moly Dioscorideum Dioscorides his Moly from a transparent root covered with a thick yellow skin springs up three or four narrow grassy leaves with a stalk foot and half high bearing at the top a tuft of milk-white flowers like those of Ramsons with a little scent of Garlick there is another lesser the flower-leaves rounder pointed these last and the yellow are too common for a good Florists Collection Moly Muscatum Monspeliense The sweet Moly of Montpelier hath four or five small leaves no bigger than Bents-stalks foot high bearing many star-like sweet flowers which if the season hot smell like Musk small root and tender requiring defence from winter-frosts this last flower not till September They all loose their fibres and may be taken up when the stalk dryed down thriving well in any Soil great increasers standing long unremoved they will last long in flower-pots if the water renewed and are preserved more for variety than for their smell or beauties-sake Asphodelus The Asphodil also bears star-like flowers as the great white branched the white unbranched the blush-colour'd the great white striped the little hollow white Asphodil and the small yellow flowers of small worth therefore only named as another kind called the Lilly Asphodil having sedgy leaves and roots many of which not the least valuable except the Lilly Asphodil with a white flower and the blush Lilly Asphodil which may be entertained As also Phalangium Spider-wort the Savoy and Italian are onely fit for your choice which flower about the beginning of June and are hardy Plants live and thrive in any Soil but best in that which is moist as the Lilly-Asphodils their time of transplanting in August parting the Roots and presently setting them again More ado about them not worth while Gladiolus Corn-flag fit for by or out-borders because of their rambling with broad long stiff green leaves full of Ribs coming out by the side of the other and joyned at the bottom the Stalk rising from among them bearing many Flowers one above another standing all one way like the Fox-gloves As Gladiolus Bizantius the Corn-flag of Constantinople with Flowers of a deep red with two white spots within the mouth of every Flower round and flat Root netted over gives many off-sets if long unremoved Gladiolus flore suave rubente The Corn-flag with a bright red Flower Gladiolus flore albo The Corn-flag with a white Flower There are several others but one that 's fit to be retain'd amongst the before-mention'd because of its colour and that is the French Ash-colour'd Corn-flag These several coloured ones set thick and intermixed when the blow makes a
Fraxinella flore albo Bastard-Dittany with a white flower its stalk and leaves of a fresher green the flowers white and not so big as the other There is two other sorts the one Ash-colour the other raised from the seeds of this of a bleak blue colour striped with a deeper less in all its parts than any of the other all of them continue in flower from this month till the end of July the seed ready to gather the end of August which will be all lost without care taken to prevent it by the spring of the Pods 'T is a hardy Plant endures long without removing yields many new ones which ought to be taken from the old root the beginning of March they are raised with Varieties by their seeds sowed in rich Earth as soon as they are ripe especially of the deep red white and Ash-colour Cistus Mas The Male Cistus a small shrubby Plant about yard high with many brittle slender woody branches cover'd with a whitish bark on which many long whitish green leaves hardish in handling two at every joynt with flowers in this month coming forth at the end of the branches three or four together upon slender foot-stalks each of five small round leaves like a small single Rose of a fine reddish purple with many yellow threads in the middle that soon fall away and are succeeded by round hard hairy heads containing small brown seeds Cistus Ledon The Gum Cistus rises higher spreads more than the former with many blackish woody branches set with long narrow dark green leaves whiter on the back-sides two at each point the whole dewed with a clammy sweet moisture but more in hotter Countries than in ours which artificially taken off is the black sweet Gum call'd Ladanum at the top of the branches stand single white flowers larger than those of the former like single Roses with five leaves having at the bottom a dark purple spot broad below and pointed upwards with yellow threads in the middle which past corner'd heads succeed containing like the former small brownish seeds These Plants continue flowering from May to September are raised from seeds the Plants endure not cold but must be housed in winter Ficus Indica minor The Indian Fig consists of leaves springing one out of another from one leaf put half into the Earth which takes root and puts out others these leaves are a finger thick flat and round-pointed of a pale green colour which shews at first of brown prickles on the upper side at the tops of the leaves in this month break out the flowers set with two rows of pale yellow leaves with a yellow thrum tipt with red in the middle after the flower 's past the head they stood on grows bigger in form of a Fig but never comes with us to perfection This is planted in pots and housed in Winter or else the frosts will rot and destroy it There is also Canna Indica The Indian flowering Reed with fair large green leaves coming from the joynts of the stalks which is above yard high bearing at the top one above another divers flowers like in shape to the Corn-flag of a bright crimson colour succeeded by three square heads containing seeds which are round and black about a Pease bigness it hath a white tuberous root whereby it is aptly increased There is another of this kind with flowers yellow with reddish spots These Plants must be set in large boxes in good earth often water'd and housed in Winter for one nights frost destroys them Helleborus albus The white Hellebore comes up with a great round head of a whitish green colour opening into many beautiful large green leaves eminently plaited throughout and compassing each other at the bottom out of them the stalk riseth a yard high with small leaves to the middle thereof whence divided into many branches bearing a multitude of small Star-like yellowish green-colour'd flowers the roots thick and big at the head with divers great white strings running deep in the ground Helleborus albus flore atro rubente The white Hellebore with a dark red flower differs from the last in that it comes up a month before the other larger leaves smaller and finer plaited flowers less of a dark red and is a fine Plant the roots of both these and the black that flowers at Christmas are hardy abide long unremoved therefore at first ought to be set in good ground There is the Ladies Slipper small white and purple Hellebore but onely the two white and the black worth our collecting Trachelium Americanum sive planta Cardinalis The Cardinals flower hath many leaves like Canterbury-bells but lesser of a yellowish green colour from whence rises tall hollow stalks set with leaves smaller by degrees to the top from the bosoms whereof come forth the flowers made of five long narrow leaves three of them standing close together hanging downright the other two are turned up with an umbone betwixt them of a paler colour than the leaves which are of an excellent rich crimson colour the root is compacted of very many white strings and well looked to abides many years There is another with blue flowers lately come from Virginia This must be planted in a Pot in good rich light Earth and when Winter begins to grow sharp set the Pot in the ground under a South-wall three inches deeper than the top and clothe it about on the top with dry Moss covered with a glass which take off in warm days and gentle showers to refresh it which must be observ'd in April at which time you may take out the Pots and expose them safely JVLY CAryophyllus hortensis called July-flowers from the month they blow in and are indeed the Summers glory as Tulips the pride of Spring deserving a Flowerists care in their propagation and preservation especially the nobler sorts which are called Dutch July-flowers or more vulgarly Carnations raised from seeds in the Netherlands and other parts adjoyning to the Sea and thence conveyed to us Our inland endeavours to raise them seldom countervail our trouble none or very few raising good ones that have not the neighbourhood of the Sea which annually produce new mixtures though seldom new colours and though their dyes not many as red purple scarlet tawny and white and of those deeper or paler yet so recompensing that defect in their delicate variegations various mixtures and pleasing scents as to vie with any species whatsoever considering the usefulness of some of them as the best Cordials extreamly comforting the noblest part of man the heart either in the Conserve of the Cloves made with Sugar or in Syrups the single colours as flowers little esteemed in comparison of those striped flaked or powder'd upon white or blush with darker or lighter red crimson or carnation sadder or brighter purple deeper or paler scarlet so that the chief July-flowers may be brought under these four sorts Red and White Crimson and White Purple and White and Scarlet and
second When your roots produce too many layers if in good flowers covet not above three or four to be laid for they draw so much nourishment from the root as not enough to ascend to the flower so hindring both fairness and bigness but in May or June not too far in the last Month neither seek out from the stems such shoots onely as are reasonable strong that run not up to spindle cut these off close to the stem and throw them in a pail of water for twenty four hours then in a bed of rich and fine mould that hath been sifted through a wire riddle cutting off your slip close at a joynt trimming away the lower leaves close to the stalk and cut off the uppermost even at the top make a hole in the earth with a little stick and put your slip therein so deep that the upper leaf may be wholly above ground then close the ground to the stem of the Plants and lastly water them remembring to do it often unless rain saves you that labour and that this bed be as much as may be in the shade Ferrarius lib. 2. cap. 15. avers from the month of February to the middle of March in the time of their germination is the best time to slip this flower nor will he have the slip nor twisted in the bottom nor Barley put under them to raise adulterous fibres but onely advises that they be cut off at a joynt Indeed both Spring and Autumn are good Seasons for making out Roots the latter requires that the slip be so early set as that it may have time enough to take root before the coldness of Winter the former that the Plant set in the Spring may have taken root before the Sun rises to that strength to emit violent and parching heats General Rules for Vernal and Autumnal Settings As your July-flowers blow if you observe any to break the pod with a Pen-knife or Lancet open it as much at each division thereof then bind it about with a small slang or narrow list of the thin Film of a Gold-beaters old Mould which moistened with your tongue will stick together keep pour flower round and scarcely be perceived If any come all of one colour the Layers from that stem will continue so and be a new kind Keep your first flowers for seeds letting their pods stand as long as you may for danger of frosts kept as much as may be from wet then cut the stems off with the pods on them and dry them so as not to lose the seeds The driness of the cods and blackness of the seeds argues their ripeness Ferrarius lib. 3. chap. 15. says the bottom of every cod or pod brings the best seeds and the largest flowers The seeds producing most varieties are the striped tawnies The most variety of double flowers are raised from the seeds of double flowers though many times the seeds of single ones will produce double The best time to sow them is the beginning of April or full Moon near that time before or after on indifferent good ground mixed with the ashes of too old rotted and superfluous slips and stems of July-flowers burnt in a place so shaded as to have only the morning and evening Sun sow them not too thick and sift the same compound over them a quarter of an inch thick when the Plant is grown to a considerable strength which will be in August or September following remove them into beds of a very good soil about the full Moon where they must stand till they flower these seedling come up sometimes with three sometimes with four leaves though they most have but two and by some observed that those with but two leaves prove single those with more prove double flowers if you mark such you will the year after their sowing find its verity by their flowers the best of which set in pots that they may be so placed each season as to have the morning Sun only not up against a south wall for they love not intemperate heat The several sorts of Primroses appear The blustring Virgin Beauties of the year Till the Bears Ears with more numerous dies Do take the field but much more take our Eyes Or the Ranunculus Anemonies So richly dy'd in grain challenge the prize Till Tulips in their glorious dress come forth Scorning all Rivals dare compare in worth Which Roses offer at yet sweetly yield To July-flowers that next do crown the field And will the honour wear or loose each head With looks like fair-skin'd Thisbe when she bled Or when a sadder purple-stream had been Trickling all over her sweet Lilly skin Others did seem and some of kin did show Like to the blushes on her face did flow Whilst one to steal her breath to mouth did skip So wears the Scent and Scarlet of her lip Nay the deep Clove its darker hue doth hold From her once-brighter blood congeal'd and cold But dead change looks and similize her thus Hanging their heads as she on Pyramus Their Pens may write or Pencils draw their story Living the Eyes best witness of their glory Clematis peregrina flore rubro Red Virgins-bower hath many limber weak woody branches covered with a thin brown outer bark and green underneath winding about any thing it can take hold of the leaves stand at the joynts consisting of three parts some notched on one side some on both the flowers the latter end of this Month begin to appear from the joints on long foot-stalks made of four leaves standing like a Cross of sullen dark red the roots a bundle of brown strong strings fastned to a head running deep in the ground Clem. c. purpureo Purple Virgins bower of a sad heavy blewish purple Clematis c. pleno purpureo The double purple Virgins bower like the former but bigger and stronger colour'd alike in the flower which is very thick and double the outward leaves broad as the others are but the inward narrow folded close together like a big button in the middle of the flower which open so slowly that the outward leaves fall off before the others spread themselves and continue flowering the next month these must be supported against a wall the young and small branches that are apt to die in winter pruned off in March the nearer cut the fairer the flowers Geranium nocte olens This is the onely Cranes-bill worth our notice and so called because it smelleth sweet onely in the night it hath a great root like a Paeony with large jagged leaves the flowers come forth in this Month with small and round-pointed leaves of a purple colour listed about with yellow these stand on smooth stalks eight or ten on a head which by night are as sweet in the night as beautiful in the day the Plant is tender and therefore set in a pot and govern'd in winter as the Cardinals flower or housed and kept dry in winter for any moisture rots the root Jucca
seldom encrease by roots therefore raised by seeds the head or Vessel that contains them after the flowers are past shrinketh down winding the stalk in a scroul about it and lieth on the ground hid under the leaves where it groweth great and round containing some small seeds which must be sown as soon as ripe in good light earth in Pots or Boxes and cover'd near a finger thick after they are sprung up and the small leaves dried down put some more of the same earth upon them and after the second year remove them to convenient distances abou Nine inches asunder where they may stand and bear flowers and probably may yield you some variety either in flower shape or marking of their Leaves Thlaspi Creticum or Candy Tufts an Annual are now in their prime and begin to blow in July they are small plants about a foot high their stalks set with long narrow notched whitish green leaves at the top stand many small single flowers set close together in some all white some have a purplish spot in the middle others are all of a pale purple colour the seeds are small and reddish their roots yearly perishing and must be yearly sowed in April almost any ground will serve their turn Lathirus Latifolius the everlasting Pease now flourishes bearing many large Pease like Blossoms of a purplish red colour standing on long foot stalks the Haum rises high and must be so planted as to be born up it dies to the ground in Winter and rises again at Spring in September its Cods will be ripe filled with small Pease which must be sowed or set at Spring and allowed two or three years ere they grow strong enough to bear flowers There is a blew one that is more rare and continues as long Flos Africanus the African and by some called the French Marigold There are several varieties thereof the best whereof are Flos Africanus maximus multiplex The greatest double African or French Marigold having many winged leaves purled about the edges of a dark green colour the stalk rising about a yard high divided towards the top into many Branches each branch bearing one large double flower of a fair gold yellow colour on the upperside and paler underneath there are diversities sometimes comes from the seeds of the same flower some paler than others rising out of a large Pod wherein after the flowers past are contain'd long narrow black seeds from which the several varieties are raised some coming with large single flowers with a thrum in the middle tho they seed from double ones Flos Africanus fistuloso flore multiplex the hollow leav'd African Marigold the flowers thick and double composed of many hollow leaves opening at the end in some of a deep in others of a paler yellow colour Flos Africanus minor flore pleno The lesser double French Marigold smaller than either of the former the stalks not so strong but twining several ways the outward leaves sometimes bigger than the rest and of a deeper and sadder colour they flower in August the roots perishing with the first frosts and are yearly renewed by seeds sowed in April in a Hot Bed but sow not any seeds fom single flowers but from the first of the double ones after they are come up to some strength remove them into a rich soil that lieth to the Sun where being water'd they prosper and bear large and stately Flowers as broad as the palm of any hand or as big thick and double and shaped like the red Belgick Rose Nasturtium Indicum Indian Cresses or yellow Larks heel spread into many long trailing branches four or five foot long which unless supported lie on the ground and take up a great deal of room smooth leaves and round the Flowers of a fair yellow colour shaped something like a single Larks heel but the leaves stand plainer and some of them streaked with red the seeds rough and uneven falling off themselves and are to be gather'd off the ground the root dying in Winter sow them in April on a hot Bed or otherways which may be removed into good Earth having the advantage of the Sun and craggy poles or sticks of a yard and half high to lead up their wiery Branches which guided up by your hand to the top when in flower make a glorious shew The Blossoms gather'd before the Winter and pickled up with Vinegar and Sugar is an excellent and rare Sallet Mirabilia Peruviana the Marvel of Peru hath a big stalk bunched at the joints spreading into many branches set at the joints with fair green leaves betwixt which and the stalk come forth the flowers on short foot stalks fashion'd like those of the lesser blew Bindweed narrow at the bottoms and wide open at the brims of which several kinds white red or yellow but the rarest are those with variegated Flowers red and white or red and yellow all but the white kind flowr'd plentifully with me this year and these like the Bindweed open in the Night and as soon as the Sun shines upon them the brims shrink inward and wither away and seldom thefore seen but late in the Evenings or Mornings for which reason by some called the Flowers of the Night after the blossoms are past they are succeded each by one seed about the bigness and colour of a black Pease the roots long like a Reddish black on the outside commonly perishing in the Winter They Flower from the beginning of August till Winter Frosts destroy them The seeds are set the beginning of April in a Hot Bed and thence removed into rich earth where they may have the benefit of the Sun if any flower not the first year lay Horse Litter or Dung on them before the Frosts and so cover'd all Winter they will flower the sooner the year following and the roots of your best kinds when done Flowering taken up and dried and each wrapped in Woollen rags and kept from moisture all Winter being set in the earth the beginning of March will in their due seasons bear Flowers Amaranthus Flower gentle by some called Princes Feather of which the greater and the lesser and of each diversity Amaranthus purpureus major the great purple Flower Gentle hath a thick and tall stalk with many large green leaves the stalk divided into many branches bearing long spikes of round hairy Tufts of a reddish purple colour divided into several parts wherein are contained a great many when full ripe of small white seeds of this there are many kinds bigger and lesser some purple mixed with green some all whitish green colour c. Amaranthus purpureus minor The lesser purple Flower Gentle hath yellowish green leaves a little reddish broad at the stalk and sharp pointed set with these leaves the stalk rises two foot high branched at the top bearing long soft and gentle tufts of hairs standing like a Pyramis of a deep shining murrey purple lasting so many months after it is gather'd the seeds are
small black and shining Amaranthus diversorun coloâ—um Flower Gentle of divers colours differ little either in leaves or stalks or seeds only their flowers are of deeper or lighter colours of Purple Scarlet and Gold colour I have had this year some Scarlet and Purple Lemon and Orange some straw colour and crimson c. these mixed in a Pot with African Marigolds shew finely There are Amaranths of three colours their beauty consisting not in the Flowers but leaves in hot years are parted into green red and yellow colours the seeds of all being black small and shining excepting the first and ought to be sowed as the Africanus on a hot bed in April and when grown to any strength may be removed where they may have no interception from the Sun beams and this yearly because the first frosts destroy them their soil must be light and rank if you covet to have good seeds sow them in a hot Bed in the middle of March when grown up to any strength remove them into another new hot Bed taking them up with earth about them so setting them the beginning of May transplant them where they may stand to bear Flowers which this way you will have the sooner as also their seeds and better ripened which you may reserve for two or three years following for so long will they last good These four last being the best of seedlings a Garden ought not to be unfurnished with besides their beauty to supply their vacancy of other Flowers in your emptied Beds of Tulips Ranunculus and Anemonies till their time of replanting There is your Garden Mallows double Holy Hocks Snap Dragons Toad flax Fox Gloves Thistles Scabious Mullen Fennel Flower Bindweed Larks heels Canterbury Bells Thorn Apples Apples of Love Garden Lupines Scarlet Bean Snails Cater-Pillers Oak of Jerusalem and of Cappadocia triflles adored amongst Countrey women in their Gardens but of no esteem to a Florist who is taken up with things of more value But of little more value is your sensible Plant your humble Plant and Noli me tangere considering their trouble in the raising and want of Beauty the first the leaves being toucht shrink from you the second when handled fall down the lasts their Pods being taken betwixt your fingers before they are ripe fly in pieces with a suddain snap being all annuals and raised from seeds and only propagated for those qualities and perish with the first frosts especially the two first Then for your sweet Herbs Basil Marjerom Mastick Sage Peny-royal Lavender Time Rosemary Gold and Silver and double flowr'd the Kitchen-Made so well understands as to excuse any more but their bear names There is also double Pellitory double Feather-few double Cammomil double Dog Fennel double Lady Smocks double Dazy c. which most women are acquainted with and know how to order In this month flowers Ormithogalum Aethiopicum the Star Flower of Aethiopia having green leaves a foot long Inch broad woolly when broken stalk cubit high bearing from the middle to the top many large white Starlike Flowers with some yellowness in the bottom of them with a three square head compassed with white threds tipt with yellow thick root round and white as tender as that which blows in May the Star Flower of Arabia and must be used accordingly these two and that which blows in April the yellow one which is less tender only worth a Florists collection and care in preserving Hyacinthus Indicus tuberosa radice the great Indian tuberous Hyacinth the best and most desired of all its kinds hath a thick tuberous Knobbed Root formed into several heads with many thick fibres at the bottoms of them from whence rise up several strong and tall stalks set with divers fair long and broad green leaves joined at the bottom close to the stalk where they are biggest growing by degrees smaller to the top where in this month stand many fair large Flowers composed of six white leaves spread open like those of a white Daffodil with some short threds in the middle and of so strong a sweet scent that a pot of them set in a lower room the doors open it shall be smelt all the house over there is another in this kind but lesser in all parts This is yearly to be taken up in April tho you may do it in September and keep the roots dry in Sand or when dry in Papers in a warm Closet till April and then carefully part the roots not breaking the great fibres and to replant them presently thus put rich earth in the bottom of the pot up to the middle then some natural fresh earth placing the root therein but so that the fibres may have nourishment from that below then cover the whole root with the same fresh earth and fill up the rest of the pot with the rank rich earth that you put in the bottom then plunge your pot in a hot Bed let it there remain if that Bed make it not spring remove it to a second till it spring grass high or two inches then set it under a South wall whole in the hot Bed not water it but afterwards in dry weather water it gently in August it will shew its rich and fragrant Flowers about the middle of September house it for it will not endure cold or wet if you would have it of-set then set the root naked in rich earth but probably it rises not to flower that year Althaea Fruticosa shrub Mallow with woody branches with a whitish bark and soft woolly whitish green leaves like the Curran trees large Flowers like single Holly hock some deep reddish or purple others lighter with the bottom of a deeper purple running into the leaves in small veins another fresher green leaves and white Flowers with a large purple spot in the bottom of this sort another with its flowers striped with blush lines these shrubs that grow to a mans height and sometimes higher are â—ncreased by laying down the branches in the earth and sometimes by their seeds which seldom come to maturity here or you may graff them by approach one upon another and on one of these shrubs have all the varieties Balaustium or double blossom'd wild Pomegranate Tree Flowers the end of this month and is the rarest of all the flowering shrubs if pruned grows up high otherwise in a thick bush full of small branches with some Thorns thereon and many small shining green leaves which fall away in Winter and are renewed in the Spring at the sides and ends of the branches come out many hard and coral coloured Cups and out of them beautiful flowers as big and double as a province Rose of an excellent bright crimson colour there is another that is less in all its parts sadder green leaves the flowers inclining more to Orange colour I have read of another with double striped flowers but have not seen it nor spoke with any that have but if you will have the Balaustium here described
bare with you you must plant it in a Box or Case made of wood that it may be housed in the Winter and in Spring the young sprouts sheer'd off that it spend it self not too much in them and this done two or three times this plant is easily encreased by its suckers or by laying Spirea frutex the shrub Spirea flowers this month and rises up more than yard high with divers woody stalks set with leaves like those of sally but lesser and nicked on the edges on the top of the stalks come forth many small pale peach colour'd flowers set thick together in a long spike lessening by degrees like a Pyramis the root woody and lasting endures the Winter and is encreased by layers Maracoc sive Climatis Virginiana the Virginian Climer come out of the ground in May with long round winding stalks more or less and in height according to the age liking of the plant it grows with us five or six foot or more high from the joints come forth the leaves at each one from the middle to the top a clasper like a Vine and a flower also the leaves broad at the bottom about the middle divided into three parts nickt about the edges the bud of the flower before it opens like the seed Vessel of the common single Vigella but longer having at the top five crooked horns opening the bud divideth it self into ten parts sustaining the leaves of the flower which are many long sharp pointed narrow well spread one by another some streight and others crooked these leaves are of a whitish colour thick spotted with a peach colour having towards the bottom a ring of a perfect peach colour and above and beneath it a white Circle adding much to the beauty of the flower but the most strange is the Umbrane which riseth in the middle parting it self into four or five crooked spotted horns from the midst of these rises another roundish head which carries three nails or horns biggest above and small at the lower end but never with us that I have heard on is this flower succeeded by any fruit but in the West-Indies where 't is a native it beareth fruit like a Pomgranate containing a whitish pulp and many corner'd rough black seeds about the bigness of Pear Kernels long roots thicker then the Sarsa Parilla's which run far in the earth putting up heads in several places by which means encreased its beautiful flowers shew themselves in August the stalk dying to the ground every Winter springing again from the roots in May which may be cover'd and defended from hard frosts in Winter it ought to be planted in a large pot to hinder the roots running and for housing in the Winter and setting in the hot Sun in Summer the hottest place that may be or it will not bear at all we set the pots in the spring in hots Beds to bring them forward In this month blossoms that curious pleasant fragrant and ever green plant The Mirtle of which is Mirtus Latifolia the broad leav'd Myrtle In thick bush full of branches growing four or five foot high set with bright shining and ever green leaves of a sweet scent somewhat broad and long at the joints of the branches come forth the flowers of five small white leaves with some white threds in the middle and very sweet the roots consisting of many strings and fibres as all shrubs do Mirtus minore folio the lesser leav'd Myrtle grows like the former but not so high the leaves thicker on the branches smaller pointed at the ends of a deeper green colour in little else differing Mirtus Rotundiore folio the Box leav'd Mirtle differs from the last the leaves being round pointed like Box there is another call'd the upright Mirtle having sharp pointed leaves and branches growing erect another call'd the Birds nest Mirtle thick set with narrow leaves and close compacted branches Mirtus Latifolia flore pleno the double flowr'd Mirtle grows like the first but being more tender grows not so large nor high its flowers being like the other white but very thick and double of a delicate sweet scent Mirtus Boetica Latifolia the great Spanish or Lawrel leafed Myrtle in all parts bigger than the former rises near two yards high the leaves are like those of the Bay but a whiter green set in a double row on both sides the branches sweet in scent in flowers and fruits differs little from the first all but the last are preserved in Cases and diligently housed in Winter but that is more hardy and with any care will endure the violence of Winter tho planted at large about the same time flowers Gelsimenum Indicum flavum odoratissimum the sweet yellow Indian Jasmine a beautiful green and rises about two foot high dividing into branches cover'd with a purplish colour'd Bark deckt with many fair shining dark evergreen leaves shaped like the Pomegranates but longer and broader the flowers like the common white Jasmine but bigger and of a fair yellow and sweet scent where they grow naturally they are succeeded by fruits like small Olives but flowering so late with us never come to perfection Phillirea variegata the striped Phillirea most beautiful of all its kinds deserving a Case with the best greens this Plant if suffer'd rises to the height of a man thick set with small branches and those with small evergreen leaves edged and striped with white yet hardy enough to be planted at large if you de-defend it a little from snows and frosts Marum Herb Mastick unless a backward Summer flowers in this month otherwayes later and rises about foot high with stiff hard stalks divided into many branches but thinly set with small green leaves two at a joint at the tops of the stalks and branches come forth small white flowers among a tuft of white downy threds the whole plant is of sweet and pleasant scent this is encreased by setting slips in April Marum Siriacum Assyrian Mastick not so tall as the former smaller leaves whiter and thicker set on the branches like the Mirtle at the tops of the stalks stand many green Knaps or Heads like those of sweet Marjerom but bigger and greener a woody root the whole plant of a delicate scent very tender and impatient of cold and therefore must be set in a pot and not housed in Winter but order'd as the Flos Cardinalis and unless defended from Cats by sharp thorns 't will be destroyed by them SEPTEMBER CRocus verus The true Saffron comes up with many narrow long leaves and after them the flowers in form like the former mention'd in the Spring of a reddish purple colour in the middle are some unprofitable small yellow chives standing upright as all other kinds have but in this flower there is also three or four longer chives hanging down on or between the leaves of a fiery red colour the true blades of Saffron which picked thence and pressed between two papers and so dried is the
that they may be shifted in the Summer into the shade in the Winter into the Sun and either transplanted into fresh mould every year or in August when you divide the roots take away some of the old and put new mould to them When you set them open a wide hole leaving a rising in the middle place the root thereon and spread every fibril round about it as not to crush one another they will the better draw their nourishment and flourish accordingly then cover them with earth and soundly doust them with water which will save you much pains afterwards needing no more unless in a very dry time preserve them as much as you may from winters wet if cold they endure well enough But house them not for they are better pleas'd with the open air or the raising of new varieties after the flowers past when the stalks begin to turn yellow the seed at the top will be near ripe therefore carfully observe the round seed vessel if you find in it a small hole and black gather it lest the seeds fall out and be lost before you are aware As soon as you see it thus ready cut the stalks gently that you flirt not out the seed the best being at the top and will fly away first keeping the tops upright for that reason tie them in that position together with a paper loose about them but fastned with the stalks at the bottome that any seeds coming out may be saved therein an ounce of which being worth a pound of what is forced out Set them up against a sunny window tying them for security to the bars thereof and what are not the Sun will there ripen About the first day of September having boxes of eight or ten inches deep what square or length you please proportion'd to the quantity of seed you have fill them half full of fine fifted rich and light earth rotted Cow dung and sandy earth proportionably mixed which gently prest down with a broad Truel leaving its surface smooth on which sift through a fine five willow earth a finger and half or more thick as equal as you can leaving it light and unpressed then having separated your seeds from their husks or crumbebs with a Sive that seeds will but just pass through you may wait for a drizling or small rain sow your seeds in your prepared boxes or cases or pots and set them out in such rain without covering them with any earth for the rain will drive the seeds as far as necessary into the fine sifted light mould always observing in what seeds soever the smaller it is the finer the earth must be that it is sowed in and that they may be rather choaked or buried by too much covering than receive prejudice by none at all which caut on none yet have publisht in Auricula's a fault by which many as well as my self have lost both our time seeds pains and expectations After you have thus sown your Auricula seeds let them stand all Winter in a free air and Sun at the beginning of April remove them into the shades for then they will begin to spring and peep at which time one hot Glem of the Sun destroys them let them continue so posited give them some gentle waterings till they arrive to some considerable bigness then transplant those of them that grow too thick but dextrously into a prepared bed for them half a foot a funder or eight inches where they ought to remain till they come to bear flowers the rest may continue in your boxes till the time you intend to sow more in their places after the former directions some will bear by that time they rest the Spring following be sure the ground you transplant them in be rich and good and that your expectations may not be frustrated let your seeds sown be gathered from good flowers such that have good white eyes that will not wash let the other colours be what they will except the yellow and your hopes may be the higher if in their flowring any new faces appear your pains are rewarded the rest that derogate are only fit for pleasing small friends or perhaps as good throw away See how the Bears Eares in their several dresses That yet no Poets pen to hight expresses Each head adorned with such rich attire Which Fools and Clowns may slight whilst skil'd admire Their gold their purples scarlets crimson dies Their dark and lighter hair'd diversities With all their pretty shades and Ornaments Their parti-colour'd coats and pleasing scents Gold laid on scarlet silver on the blew With sparkling eyes to take the eyes of you Mixt colours many more to please that sense Other with rich and great magnificence In double Ruffs with gold and silver laced On purple crimson and so neatly placed Ransack Flora's wardrobes none sure can bring More taking Ornaments t' adorn the spring Dens Caninus Dogs Tooth or Dogs tooths violet its spotted roots and leaves manifest it a kind of Satyrian but of more beauty and rarity the stalk half a foot high bearing one flower hanging down the head with six narrow long leaves which like the Cyclamen turn up again to the stalks shewing a three forked stile of white colours beset with six chives tipt with purple pendents rooted long and white like a dogs tooth whence so named of which there is these sorts Dens Caninus Flore albo Dogs tooth with a white flower Dens Caninus Flore purpurescente with a purple flower Dens Caninus Flore rubro Dogs tooth with a red flower Dens Caninus Flore luteo Dogs tooth with a yellow flower and deserves our entertainment flowering in the end of Maroh or beginning of April They affect not a dunged soil but good fresh earth and therein to be planted in August ere they put forth new fibres for tho they lose the old they quickly recover new ones therefore keep them not long out of the ground and when set defend them from rain for a fortnight for much will rot and moil them they are very slow encreasers and but seldome with us APRIL Auricula flore coeruleo folio Boraginis THe Burrage-leav'd blew Auricula hath rough hairy leaves spread on the ground like Burrage but much lesser and rent in the sides in some places among which rises up one two or more brown hairy stalks five or six inches high each bearing at the top three or four flowers of five leaves large sharp pointed of a fair rich blew colour some small yellow threads in the middle the root long and brownish with many small fibres 'T is a tender Plant impatient of Cold must be planted in a pot and handled as the Flos Cardinalis is directed to be ordered in the latter end of what is described under the Title June Cortusa Matthioli Bears Ear Sanicle springs up with folded leaves openings are fair and broad cut in divisions nicked about the edges a little hairy dark green on the upper but whiter on the other
in clogs with many round pieces fastned to the head with smaller strings I shall only name the best double ones Paeonia faemina flore pleno Purpureo the double purple Peony smaller in all its parts than the common red one the leaves of a whiter green those of the flower of a bright shining purple and soon fall Rubescente the double Carnation Peony of a bright shining Carnation colour at the first opening but daily waxing paler till almost white but never falls the leaves but wither on the stalk a great perfection Albicante the double blush or white Peony large flower at first opening tinctured with a light blush but in few daies turns to perfect white and continues so long before it decays and then withers on the stalk and is the best yet come to our knowledge Variegata smaller than the last in all its parts the flower of a fine red striped with white lasts long and falls no leaf These all flower in May and are hardy plants and endure long in the ground without stirring October the only time of removing them and none of those roots will grow but what have Sprouts or Buds at the end or rather top of them except of the double purple each piece thereof will grow so apt to encrease Some years the double ones bring seeds to perfection which sowed very thin in September where they may stand unremoved in the ground two years may produce new varieties I must a little insist on the Hony Suckles and Columbines now in flower tho they are so generally known as to seem needless Of Woodbines the red Italian and the double are the best the first blows in June the double Hony Suckle in this month of May both easily encreased by laying their branches in the ground for if they but fall on the ground of themselves they are apt to root there Aquilegia Columbines the double are of four colours blew white purple and red any of these alone not valued those that are variegated accepted also the double inverted Columbines i. e. with the heels inward various in their colours Double Rose Columbines that have no heels but stand on their stalks like little double Roses The degenerate Columbine like the last but that the leaves which are outermost are much larger than any of'the rest commonly of a greenish purple colour The Virginian Columbine hath small single flowers withlong heels of a yellowish colour shaddowed with red with deeper red spots in the hollow parts of the flower each flow'ring in the end of May when few other flowers shew themselves and therefore entertain'd all bearing seeds those flowers that come of a self colour ought to be nipt off and only variegated ones left for seed which sown in April in the Nursery will bear the second year the best whereof remove into your Garden the rest throw away before they drop their seed to incumber your ground with but self coloured or single flowers which will last being but such flowers too many years In this Month also blows the great Cyanus or blew Bottle that is lasting those Annuals shall find another place with the Annuals for description 't is like the Corn flower but much larger and pleasanter the long blew flowers many on a head making a pretty shew not so common as I find some speak it In this Month also blows Os in Thogalum Arabicum the Star-flower of Arabia leav'd like the Oriental Hyacinth on a round green stalk two foot high on long foot-stalks grow divers Orchis sive Satyrium the fly Orchis or Bee-flower-Satyrions grow wild in Meadows and other places yet for their pretty form and beauty acceptable in some parts of a Garden especially the under named Mellita sive apifera the Bee-flower growing about six inches high with three or four narrow green leaves the stalk bears three or four flowers one above another each contains four leaves three small and sharp pointed of a blush colour turning up towards the top of the stalk the fourth is round in form and colour like a Bee that were sucking a flower so as to deceive many that were ignorant in the flower the Roots round two joyned together one of them perishing when the flowers past the other remaining hard and sound Orches Spegodes Gnats Satyrion differs from the last in larger leaves and higher stalks and that the lower or fourth leave of the flower is like a Gnat or long great fly rooted like the Bee-flower Orchis Myodes fly Orchis like the last but lesser having the lower leaf like a fly with legs a list of Ash-clour crossing the back and the lower part black There is also the Butter-fly Orchis the snow-white the all-red the yellow and divers spotted flowring about the middle of May and found wild in many places thence transplanted with a Turf about them into a shady barren place of the Garden for they will not live in a hot good Soil or take a large Turf whence they naturally grow set the herb in your garden shady cut Roundles therein and put in your Orches Roots fill'd up with the same earth in June or July at Spring clip the grass low with Sizzers leaving the flowers which will thus used prosper well Springa sive Gelsiminum Arabicum the double white Pipe-tree or Arabian Jasmine in this Month begins to flower and continues flowering till September be spent and is a rare and tender shrub having many long slender yet stiff woody branches set with fair green leaves and large two standing at each joynt against each other at the end of the branches come forth divers flowers standing on foot-stalks each in a hole like the common white Jasmine containing fair double flowers of round pointed white leaves the middle hollow and yellowish of a strong sweet scent like Orange-flowers 't is a nice Plant requires housing and observance in the Spring Citisus Maranthe Horned-Trefoil its fine Blossoms shew themselves in this season this Tree rises four or five foot high the body seldom bigger than a Mans Thumb covered with a whitish Bark the branches more white the leaves stand three together being less rounder and whiter than the ordinary Laburnums its flowers like Broom of a gold yellow-colour coming forth three or four together at the ends of the branches followed by crooked flat and thin Cods like half-moons it is a tender Plant and so set as to be housed with Greens in the winter not to be increased by Seeds or Layers but by taking off some new slips in June setting them in the shade keeping the earth moist by frequent and gentle waterings Solanum fruticosa Shrub night-shade hath a woody stock and branches about a yard high of a dark Brown colour set with leaves of a sad green the flowers like those of the common night-shade in one white in another of a blew colour one of this kind hath the green leaves variegated with white this is also increased by Layers and Flowers the end of this Month.
dividing them into these sorts single self colours single striped double self colour'd and double striped flowers And first of the Single self colours which as the rest have green thick leaves and broad some longer some shorter some of a grass green others lighter and mealy some smooth and plain on the edges others downy and jagged or purled edges from the middle or sides of the leavs spring up the stalks from four inches to a shafual in height round and coloured like the leaves bearing at the top many flowers shaped as the Cowslips consisting of five small leaves parted at the ends with a white circle or eye in the middle hallow down to the small caps they stand in wherein when the flower 's fallen appear small round heads with a prick in the middle which contain the seeds that are small and brown having a long white stringy root like that of the Primrose or Cowslip that Original of these delicate springs Auricula flore Luteo The yellow Auricula of which those only are esteemed that bear the biggest Trusses of the deepest yellow largest and whitest eyes the rest not worth a farthing hence came the leather-coats still esteemed as Liver colour with a gray eye Hair colour good truss and eye several sorts Clove colour great truss indifferent eye of the last there are larger and bigger flowers Willow colour small eye Mouse colour yellowish eye Cinnamon large flower fine white eye Hair colour lighter edges good truss and eye of this sort several lighter and darker Greenish hair colour or like Corn blossomes large flower and truss great white eye Light Tawney fine white eye many flowers in the Truss a pretty variety Albo the white of small esteem only the Virgins milk with a large truss of white flowers and whiter eye Auricula flore purpureo The purple Auricula of which several sorts some deeper some lighter some bigger some lesser some good white eyes others indifferent Auricula flore One The fair Downam rais'd by a Divine of that Name bearing many flowers of a bright murrey or reddish purple colour with a white eye Tutor Goods purple bearing a great Truss of many fair rich purple flowers with a delicate white eye that will not wash with rain but abide so to the last which many others will not do Mrs. Bugs fine purple like the last but that the great head of flowers stand more upright of a deeper purple and broader white eye Mr. Whitmores purple fair and large great Truss of flowers of a lighter purple than the former with fine white eyes Mr. Rea's purple like in colour brighter bearing more flowers good eye Purple Fransway a good flower bearing a great Truss of rich shining purple Flowers with a larger white eye than any of the rest The black Imperial and the black Emperor are such dark purples that little difference them from black with delicate snow white eyes the only difference of these two is that the last is the bigger in all its parts and of other purples there is more diversities than I need name nor should but that the Blazing Star just now appears in view the largest leaf Flower of them all by much of a very deep murrish liver colour with a snowy white eye as big as the whole of another Flower Auricula flore Rubro sive coccineo The red or Scarlet colour'd Auricula Mrs. Austins Scarlet bears a great Truss of fine Scarlet Flowers with Snow white eyes yet the best of that kind There are some of Mr. Jacob Roberts raising that are good Flowers who keeps the Physick Garden in Oxford there are others that are raised from seeds of a bloud red as Mr. Reo's deep scarlet or rather bloud red Auricula bearing a great Truss of Flowers with fair white eyes Some that are Crimson others Carnation Rose colour and blushes with several other colours the stranger the colour if with good white eyes that will not wash are of most value Come we now to the more enobled Auricula's inriched by their stripes and begin with the eldest of them The Purple striped Auricula small in all parts on a weak low stalk bears a head of four or five seldom more purple Flowers striped with white The Purple and Lemmon colour bigger and stronger than the last on a stiff tho low stalk bears a good Truss of Flowers but hath no good eye yet well marked with Purple and Lemmon but sometimes all yellow Deep purple and Straw-colour white eye fine Flower Dul flesh colour and Lemmon Liver colour and yellow broad stripes Bloud colour streakt with yellow good eye Dark and Gold colour indifferent eye Dark and Gold colour with the fair eye Fine Violet and white Sky colour and white finely striped large Truss Scarlet and Gold colour finely striped good eye large Truss pert upright dainty Flower Buffe and Lemmon coloured striped bad eye Hair colour and Lemmon rarely striped fine white eye large truss and upright but sometimes come all yellow Philomot some stripes of leather colour bad eye Dark hair colour streaked with a lighter Needle work pale peach and white in small streaks weak-stalk and small head there are some more varieties but let these suffice at present Arrive we at last to the richest of these curious flowers the double self coloured and the double striped of the double self colours The double white bearing but one flower on a stalk The double yellow a large flower The double Leather-coat The double dark hair colour The double Chesnut colour large flower and leaves well spread The double deep Philomot lightning towards the bottom into Lemmon colour to the white of the eye large flower and indeed a fine one To close with the best last there are two rare striped Auriculas their price bespeakes them the one at four the other nearer five pound and have been sold for twenty pound as I have been informed they may now be cheaper and are in the hands of my truly worthy friend Peter Egerton of Boughton near Chester Esq viz. The double striped Crimson and white The double very large and full of leaves purple and yellow the two choicest rarities in Flora's Cabinet These several sorts of Auricula's flower some few the later end of March the rest in April and some of them again in the opposite months to those mentioned but the then flowers more weak and not so glorious They must be so planted as to be shaded from the mid-day scorchings of the Sun in a rich soil the best composition is well rootted neats dung flood-sands or brooks-sand and willow earth that is the rotten dust of a mouldered old willow Tree these mixed and sifted to a fine composition of mold which they most delight in and which the choicest of Auricula's may be allowed for their lodging Courser beds of Earth may serve the commoner sorts which must be set a foot asunder because of their spreading and will endure all weathers but your best set in pots or boxes
friends or self put them in boxes in a dry room once in a fortnight or three weeks look over them lest they moulder which if not gently whiped and aired in the Sun will spoil the root if any of them are rivel'd or crumpled on the outside and feel soft it is a sign of its consumption and as my Father-in-law directed wrap it up in wool dipt in Sallet Oyl and place it where the warmth of the fire may but just reach it about the end of August set it in the ground mixing wood-fire-soot and sand together and place about it cover it with a pot that no wet may hurt it till the fibres are put forth which will be at the end of September or not at all about which time you must set your other roots in that form and manner as before directed taking notice that your earth if any dung be in it let it be Neats dung that hath lain long enough to be sufficiently rotted and digested for want of which many fine flower hath been spoil'd the best composition for them if your fresh earth be not naturally light enough for they cannot endure a stiff soyl is one part of well rotted Neats dung two parts of fresh earth next under the turf and two of Sea sand instead of which brook sand may serve and this too should have lain mixt a while before made into a Bed to lodge your Tulips in that the rawness of the Earth and Sand by sometimes stirring it might be by that means taken away Now for raising new varieties of Tulips there is but one sure way and that is by seeds sown you may wait many years before a mode changes perhaps never and off-sets they will quickly bear Flowers and at the first be better marked and like children shew prettier faces than their Parents which youthful beauty soon decayes and too often degenerates as from their Parents stability so from their lineaments too and become not worth the looking on and therefore not to be cheated by fair shews is to have natures product by seeds sown with that advantage that by years shortens the time which Mr. Woldridge sayes is only sit for a dull Florist it seems too mercurial a Gentleman to have patience and a way that most I am sure have not cused and sew know and my self lately received it from a venerable Prelate every way ingenious and ingenuous as well as an excellent Florist whose name I have not leave and therefore with Reverence forbear to mention it in such a trifle as this Book The way then and secret is this After you find that your seed Vessels of your best Flowers left for that purpose are ripe which may be noticed by the Pods opening at the top and the stalks being withered cut them all off Keeping their heads upright as directed in Auricula's which will fall out to be in July sooner or later as the heat and mildness of the season sutes tying the Pods of your best Flowers by themselves and up to the Bar of a Sunny Window which will perfect the ripeness of the seed let them so remain till about the end of September and then separate the Flat or Parsnip-like seed from the chaff by gently blowing it away with your mouth Still preferring the best by it self c. in your boxes of about six inches deep fill them four inches full of the finest sifted Mould you can get let it be light and rich not too sandy for this use or rather ridled in and not pressed down but as equally thick as you can upon which sow your best seeds not too thick but that they may be half an inch asunder then riddle more of the same earth over them not above half an inch thick and you have done as yet with that in Boxes If you sow in Beds let them be thus prepared empty your Beds four inches deep of their old Earth laying Tiles flat all over on the rest then fill them up again upon the Tiles with the finest Sifted earth as in your Boxes no higher than before let the earth lie light and even and thereon sow your seeds and cover them as directed when sown in Cases or Boxes these sown in Beds by reason of the earth under the Tiles will be apt enough to keep that above moist but a little watering now and then when March approaches will be convenient for those seeds sown in Boxes or Cases But where is this rare secret all this while any Florists reason may tell him in the shallowesness of the soil the seeds are sowed in for from their first rooting from each root runs a string of a considerable length into the ground drawing that little bulb it proceeds from after it in which it spends it self till it meets with opposition leaving for that year a root no bigger than an ordinary big pins head now were that stringy substance prevented which is more than three or four times the quantity of the root nature would throw that into the substance of the root and by that means leave you a root as big the first year as otherways in three which must necessarily by so much time hasten the flowring of the seeds sown and no way to do that but by checking its progress by a close opposition which the evenness of the soil in Boxes or Cases and the nearness of the Tiles in Beds is available in Let not the easiness of its performance make it slighted for all secrets are so when once shown as the way to make an Egg stand on one end on a bare Table that made the Country-man so angry for loosing his Wager when afterwards he could have done it himself Thus mannaged seeds the roots from them each year till they flower may be taken up assoon as the single leaves they produce are dried down or wither'd and kept choicely free from moisture or too much driness till the later end of August and then set again at wider distances three years may make them produce two leaves and that year they flower but after the first year you may set them in a deeper soil but not barren for a rich one to thrive in is best tho a barrener and sandish one to flower in and that not constantly neither for a rich one one year and a barrener another is the best for trying experiments on such flowring roots as Tulips Yet have I tried the richest earth for one Bed of Tulips several years and have found them come constantly well marked Modes that is self colours I would set them in as barren Earth one year as would but keep them alive and in the other extream the next to force to varigate As for Tulips so for other flowers be provided a year before-hand for apted soils to their natures making new compositions every year that may by concocting and often turned over till you use it this you will find no small advantage to other flowers as well as Tulips of which let me thus
pretty show which is the beginning of July and loose their fibres as soon as stalks dry and may then be taken up and kept out of the ground freed from their many off-sets and in September set again They prosper in any place increase too much Lychnis Champions the best whereof Lychnis Coronaria rubra multiplex The double Red-rose-champion like the single kind so well known needs no description onely the Flowers of this thick and double of the same delicate Velvet red-colour which is in the common single kind Lychnis Coronaria alba multiplex The double White-rose-champion like the last but that the Flowers are more thick and double and rarer than the Red. There is Lychnis Chalcedonica flore simplici The single Non-such Flower of Constantinople or as more commonly known by the name of the Flower of Bristow bearing a great head of many single Scarletflowers Another differing in the colour of the Flowers which is at first of a reddish blush-colour growing paler by degrees so that in one head there will be several shades of blushes Another with Flowers Snow-white But the most valuable is the Lychnis Chalcedonica flore pleno miniato The double rich Scarlet Non-such or Flower of Bristow a lusty strong great double-headed Flower of the richest Scarlet imaginable The Champions flower the end of June and continues till September the several Non-suches the latter end of the same month also The Champions must be planted of slips taken from the old Roots in the end of August that they may root before Winter for if set at Spring they run up to flower and die at Winter as the old Plants are apt to do therefore set Slips every year lest you lose the kind The Non-such are more hardy and prosper worst in a Soil over-hot or too rank they continue long and are increased by taking young Plants from the old Roots Do this in the end of March when they come up with many heads each then divided with some share of the Root will grow and soon come to bear Flowers No doubt but the Seeds of the single kinds sowed as Auricula-seeds being as small may produce new Varieties In this month appears Hesperis sive Viola Matronales Dames Violet or Queens Gilliflower by Country-women call'd Close Sciences two sorts of them common in their Gardens both single one pale-blush the other white the Flower but of four Leaves But the nobler sorts are Hesperis flore pleno alba The double white Queens Gilliflower like the single kinds but that in this there are many Flowers on a branch and on stalks many branches standing thick together in a long spike each Flower thick and double of a pure white colour and sweet scent chiefly in the Evening therefore called Hesperis Hesperis flore pleno purpurascente The double Purplish Queens Gilliflower differs onely from the last in the colour of the Flowers which are of a fine pleasant light reddish purple colour more rare than the double white Hesperis flore pleno variegata The double striped Queens Gilliflower like the last but that the Flowers are finely striped with white and most esteemed There is one that beareth single Flowers thus striped respected for its bearing Seeds which sowed produce Varieties They flower the beginning of June and blow till the end of July easily raised from any slip or branch which set in the ground at Spring shaded and watered will grow but neglect not to nip off the Buds of your under-set Plants as soon as they appear for Flowers otherways they will blow and assuredly die Armerius Sweet Williams Of these and Sweet Johns are several sorts their form too well known to be here described and of each onely the double Sweet Johns and the Velvet Sweet Williams worthy esteem Every slip of them set in the Spring will grow they flower in June and if you keep their Seeds and sow them other Varieties may be gained but let it be done in April they flower not till the second year Speculum Veneris or Venus Looking-glass a pretty Seedling the branches low and tender divided into many parts commonly lying on the ground little leaves slightly nicked on the edges small flowers of a bright Purple-colour tending to blueness with wide mouths having a white chive in the middle that adds much to its beauty the roots very slender and perish when they have perfected their small seeds which sow in April afterwards they will sow themselves and yearly pay you tribute for your first pains in sowing them Hedysarum clypiatum The Red Satten-flower called the French Honey-suckle hath many stalks set with winged green leaves at the joynts come out smaller stalks set with many flowers of a shining red colour in some white which is the rarer After the Flowers past the Seeds are contain'd in flat round Husks three or four standing one above another The second year after their sowing they flower this and the next month and die the Winter following In the beginning of April sow their Seeds Papaver multiplex Double Poppies need no description they are so common some red purple scarlet lead-colour white blush c. Another each leaf of the Flower is half scarlet and half white Another striped with the same colours But the chiefest and of most esteem is that of a younger date of a fine gold-yellow and double flowering in June yield much seed and either sowed or falling of themselves will come up and prosper in any place The latter end of this month flowers also Nigella the Fennel-flower the Spanish single of a bleak blue and a double of the same colour but of like worth either Fraxinella flore rubente Bastard-Dittany with a reddish flower grows about two foot high with divers woody brownish stalks the lower part set with many winged-leaves like those of a young Ash seven nine or eleven together somewhat large and long purled about the edges of a sad green colour and strong resinous scent on the upper part of the stalks in this month blow many flowers growing in a spike at distances one above another each containing five long leaves four whereof stand on the two sides bending upwards the fifth hanging down turning the end up again of a pale red colour striped through every leaf with a deeper red a tassel in the middle of five or six long purplish threads that bow down with the lower leaf and turn up the ends again with a little freeze at the end of each when these gone succeed hard clammy husks pointed at the ends wherein is contained round shining black seeds the root white large and spreading under ground the whole Plant of a strong resinous scent more delighting to the Eye than Nose Fraxinella flore rubro Bastard-Dittany with a red flower differs from the other in that it is bigger in all its parts leaves dark-green longer spike of flowers and deeper red another raised from the seeds of this thicker of flowers and of a deep bloudy red colour
rest of the earth to nourish and comfort your plants water them as the driness of the season requires with discretion Sprinkling your greens all over with your water Pots of clear water 't will make them have the more delicate lustre Your Mirtles will shew finely intermixed with your Posts of Julie flowers About the middle of Agust is your secure season for removing and laying your Perennial greens Oranges Lemons Mirtles Phillireas Oleanders Jessemines Arbutes and other rare shrubs as Pomegranates best Roses c. by taking the shoots and branches of the last Spring and pegging them down with a hook-stick in very rich earth but it must be perfectly consumed watering them on all occasions in Summer that time twelve Month they will be prepared for a removal which must be in fit earth and set in the shade kept moderately moist not over wet lest ye rot the young fibres within three weeks after expose them to some more airy place and a little of the morning Sun but not a full Sun till a fortnight after About Mihacelmas according as the season admonishes in a fair and clear day your rarest greens and plants being dry lodge them in their Winter quarters your green house recruiting them with fresh earth as in May to nourish them all Winter leaving at first your Doors and Windows open giving them all the air you can unless the Winds be sharp and Foggy weather enclose them by degrees unless the Frosts force you to do it sooner and enclose them by shutting up Windows and Doors together Mirtles are more hardy and will endure out till the next month after When the cold comes on set such plants that will not endure housing into holes made in the earth two or three inches lower than the surface thereof under some South wall or pale covering them with sweet and dry moss and then putting Glasses over them in all warm and Sun-shine dayes or in gentle and sweet showers give them air by wholly uncovering them thus may you preserve your precious Marum Siriacum Cistus's Geranium nocte Olens Flor Cardinalis Maracocs seedling Arbutus choicest Ranunculus and Anemonies c. Thus governing them till April and then about again as before taught unless you have or do find out better wayes which I should be glad to be informed of but remember that in November you so seclude out all cold you can out of your green house or conservatory by close stopping all chinks by laying Straw and Mats where cold may enter for if it freez in your Conservatory for which you must set a bole of water on purpose to know kindle some Charcoal and put them in a hole sunk a little into the floor about the middle of it if the Plants be exceeding dry and it do not freez refresh them sparingly with qualified water i. e. mingled with a little Sheeps or Cow dung but then take heed of wetting the leaves therewith at all times when the air is warmed by the beams of the Sun in a fine day the Sun darting on the house open your Windows and Doors that way but shut them again before the Sun be off observe also that it is better to give housed plants too little water than too much and that Aloes or Sedums must-have none at all NOVEMBER In this Month is ARbutus the Strawbury Tree in its greatest glory the body hath a rough but the branches a smooth Bark with leaves alternately green like the Bayes finely purled about the edges long yet round pointed the flowers grow on the ends of the branches with long stalks and are small little white bottles like those of the Lilly of the Valley which are of little beauty but succeeded by red berries like to Straw-berries harsh in taste containing small and many seeds the whole rises not here to two yards high it s usual height in its native Countrey Ireland the berries are its beauty ripe in this Month and therefore herein placed which being mixed with its fine green leaves are very delightful to the eye young Plants are raised from seeds and some by layers but long e're they root and when removed the earth must be taken up with them and carefully planted being nice whilest young but elder are hardy and will prosper under any warm Wall DECEMBER HElleborus niger verus the true black Hellebor from a root of many long brown strings running deep in the ground and fastned to a big head springeth up many green leaves standing on big stiff foot stalks divided into eight or nine parts nicked about the edges the flowers come forth in this month upon short foot stalks shaped like single white Roses at first white at last turn to a blush colour with a pale yellow thrum and a green head in the middle by many called the Christmas Rose Of watering Plants Now for the watering all the foregoing Plants and Flowers observe with me If you fear dry weather do not defer too long before you water but do it gently before the earth is too dry consideration had to the depth of your roots and those that are deepest water most and when you begin to water continue it as long as you find occasion Use not Well water for tender Plants for it is so strained thorough the earth or rather barren Sands or Rocks and for want of the Sun so chill and cold that having no nourishment rather the contrary doth more hurt than good Rivers that run quick and long on sharp gravel are little better but if you are forced to use such let it stand sometime in Tubs in the Sun mixed with Dung Let the quantity and quality of the Dung mixed with the water be according to the nature of your plants if your Plants be great growers and require heat then put Horse-dung in your water If your water be bad then put dung into it to help it Let it stand in the Sun and open Air uncovered If your Plants be fine and tender then put Sheep or Cowes dung Deer or Asses dung in to the water the worse the ground and more barren be sure to put in the more Dung Take care you water no Plants with standing stinching Ditch water nor no water that stinketh for sweet water not too clear and fresh mould not musty or tainted by stinking weeds is as proper for tender Plants as sweet and good food warm and clean lodging for tender and fine bred persons Rain water is very good if not too long kept but if your Vessel be large the oftner you stir it the longer it will keep sweet Large and Navigable Rivers that receive much soil by washing streets and the many sinks that run into it and which by its own motion doth cleanse it self from that which is noxious both to man and plants is an excellent water for all sorts of plants The larger the Ponds be the better the water is for Plants the opener to the Sun the better the more motion they have by horses washing in
year in Autumn they ought to be taken up and set in fine loose and fresh mould as rich as may be but beware of too much muck at such distance as bearing roots which many will prove the year following all of them the third year tho some have affirm'd from seeds so sown they have had Anemonies in flower within ten months from their time of sowing You may do well to put a thin layer of rotten sally Wood or Willow earth under your young Anemony roots at their first transplanting it will cause them the sooner to put forth fibres and gain the more strength against Winter neither is it amiss if to be had to do as much by the old roots of the best kinds for their beautiful flowers will very well reward your pains On Anemonies In vain we greet the Mirtle Grove Expecting there the Queen of love In closer shades she now doth bide Since that her dear Adonis dy'd This was the place where he was slain And this the Earth his blood did stain This is the flower which then did rise From that lov'd lovely Sacrisice Hither each morn did Venus come And with her Tears bedew'd his Tomb Till she perceiv'd him still alive And now a beauteous Vegetive Then stooping down to kiss his flower Hear breath and beauty had the power To change that fatal purple quite Into more splendid red and white The cheering leaves shot from her eye Soon made this flower to multiply And each fair infant that was born A diff'rent tincture to adorn Which is the cause we now espie Such colours in th' Anemony Each to declare should I but strive 'T would look like dead lines to the life And so Adonis once being slain In 's Vegetive be kill'd again APRIL and MAY. RANUNCULUS THe Crow-foot the best sorts of which carry such a lustre and richness in the colour of their flowers that therein they exceed all others much resembling the Anemonies and in all things are to be order'd alike only requiring a richer soil they come up with leaves something broad indent about the edges some more cut and divided than others of a pale green and some deeper the stalk rising some under others above a shafnal in height and have grumous or kernelly roots Ranunculus creticus Albus the double white Crow-foot of Candy the stalk parted into two or three branches each bearing a fair white double flower Flore argenteo the cloth of silver Crow-foot beareth lesser flower than the last and single of seven or eight round pointed leaves of a pale yellowish blush colour on the insides a little striped but more on the outside with Crimson the root as the former grumous Ranunculus Asiaticus Flore pleno luteo the double yellow Crow-foot or Ranunculus of Asia the leaves of this more divided like a Carret whence rise many small stalkes each bearing at the Top one small double flower of a shining yellow colour Flore pleno rubro the double red Ranunculus of Asia hath the lower leaves plain and not cut but a little indented at the Edges the rest of the leaves parted into three or five divisions and notched about the stalk foot high bearing a fair and something large double flower of a fair yellow and red These have been Flowers noticed in the last Age this produces more noble sorts as Sang de Beuf seemingly striped at first with yellow but full blown of the colour of Bulls blood very double Monster of Rome very thick and double a rich scarlet flower there is also The Monster striped with yellow but a lesser flower Puvoin of Rome a large flower its leaves round pointed and standing out in the middle of a deep scarlet there is another Puvoin of Rome striped or rather each leaf of the flower listed about with yellow the rest deep scarlet Marvelia a less flower but marbled with a deeper and lighter scarlet Fericus hath greener leaves and larger than the rest stalk rising higher dividing into several branches each bearing a large double flower of a rich scarlet Fericus Trashe or striped is a lesser Flower and commonly well striped with yellow Ranunculus of Aleppo a fine Flower Orange tawney colour'd very double and round well striped with yellow There are others under differing names but so little in the flowers as not worth paper room in mentioning but these last named a Florist's pains are well bestowed in collecting The following single ones will also be acceptable objects in the season The Gold yellow striped through the leaves with scarlet Rosa frize white within rose colour without Roman is shammey marked with red without African yellow within scarlet and yellow without Besanson yellow within pale yellow and red without Melidore pale Isabella within Crimson border'd with Isabella without Parmisan yellow within gold colour border'd with Crimson without Satine white within white marked with red without Didonian is Shammey colour within and marked with red without There are several others that have been and more may be raised from seeds which must be managed as those of Anemonies Their roots must be planted in rich sandy and ranker Earth than Anemonies and as them must about Mid-Summer be taken up and kept dry in Papers or Boxes till they are set again which must be in December lest if done earlier they come up too soon and frosts destroy them unless prevented by daily attendance in covering and airing them in March and April when come up and rise to flower as Anemonies ought to be often and well water'd Their leaves once snipt or snerpt by the frost which appears by their brown colour will soon dy down to the root and that perish too I had some this year thus caught I clapt drinking Glasses over them taking them off once a day and each day gently watering them and by that means not only sav'd their lives but brought them to flower without which I am certain they had been lost That their roots may the better encrease they may be set in such an Earth that hath been made by long lying of old Thatch or straw but with your other Earth prepared for them above and below it with which lodging I have found them to have been very well pleased by their multiplying and chearful countenances 'T is said far Countreys they have gilded Crows And if each Crow-foot hath such glorious show It must be true in Semetry no doubt Hercules stature may be known by 's foot And so Ranuncuius by these weak lines In water you may see how the Sun shines MAY. PAeonia the Peony is of two Sexes Male and Female The Male is single and known by its leaves coming constantly whole without any division long roots and round the flower of a purplish red of which there is but one sort of the Females many some bearing single others double flowers of the shape of the common red one therefore needs no description the leaves of all of them divided on the Edges the roots more tuberous growing
Indica The Indian Jucca hath a large Tuberous root and fibres thence springs a great round tuft of hard long hollow green leaves with points as sharp as thorns always remaining but some of the outward ones which are supplyed by those that spring in the middle from an old Plant well kept sometimes springs a strong round stalk divided into several branches which bear divers flowers something like the Fritilaria's but narrower at the bottom containing six leaves the three outward veined on the backs from the bottom to the middle with a reddish blush upon white coming forth in this Month and soon fall away without seeding with us This Plant must be set in a large square box wide and deep fill'd with good rich earth housed in winter and defended from Frosts it never here increases that I yet know of but are brought from the West-Indies Periptoca Virginiana Virginian silk rises with one or more round stalks near four foot high at several joynts set with two long broad vein'd round pointed green leaves on the top of the stalk out of a skinny-hose a great tuft of flowers come forth thirty or forty hanging down on long foot-stalks each consisting of five small hollow leaves of a purplish colour which past come long crooked Cods standing upwards containing flat brown seeds wrapped within a great deal of fine soft whitish brown silk the root big and white running far under-ground and springing up in many places it flowers in July bringeth Seeds and silks in August it hath been raised from seeds brought from Virginia the stalks die to the ground every winter but springs again at Spring if the place where it stands be covered with horse-dung in winter to defend it from frosts Jasminum album White Jasmine from the bigger boughs that come from the root proceed divers green flexible branches set with winged leaves of a dark green colour standing two together at the joynts made of many small pointed leaves set on each side of a middle rib commonly three on a side one bigger and more pointed at the end at the tops of the young branches divers flowers come forth together in a tuft each on a long foot-stalk which are small long and hollow opening into five white pointed leaves of a strong sweet scent falling away here with us without seeding Jasminum Catilonicum the Catilonian or Spanish Jasmine like the last in growing differs only in the flowers which before open in a blush after white with blewish edges the branch and green leaves larger but shorter the whole not rising half so high the flowers sweeter than the other Jasminum Hispanicum mutiplex the double Spanish Jasmine grows like the last the flowers white but bigger and double containing two rowes of leaves with some smaller coming forth of the middle of the flowers which are as sweet as the former Jasminum Luteum the yellow Jasmine hath many long slender branches set at distances with three small dark green leaves together the middle or end leaf being the biggest at the joints where the leaves come forth stand long stalks bearing small long hollow flowers ending in five sometimes six yellow leaves the flowers past round black shining berries succeed them the roots are tough and white creeping in the ground coming up in divers places much increasing Jasminum Indicum flore Phaenico the Indian scarlet Jasmine cometh up from a large spread root with one two or more flexible branches which must have somewhat to support them putting forth at every joint small and short tendrils by which it fastens to any woody substance at the same place comes forth two winged leaves large almost as Rose leaves full of veins and finely nicked on the edges standing usually three on a side and one at the end which are reddish at first after of a fair yellowish green colour at the end of the branches comes forth the flowers many together long like a Fox glove at the ends opening into five fair broad leaves with a stile and small threds in the middle of a Saffron colour some Plants have on the inside the flowers small red leaves others of a deep scarlet vein'd with small yellow lines These Jasmines flower from July to the middle of August the first white and common yellow are hardy and endure our Winter colds encreasing fast enough by suckers but the Indian yellow and the Spanish must be planted in pots or boxes that they may be housed in Winter encreased usually by grafting them late in the Spring on the common white Jasmine the approach way they may also be encreased by layers Laurus Rosea sive Oleander the Rose Bay-tree is of two sorts one breaking red the other white flowers in nothing else differing its stem growing to the bigness of a mans thumb divided into three branches at each joint bearing long hard thick dark green leaves at the end of the branches come forth the flowers of a deep blush in the one and white in the other consisting of four narrower long yet round pointed leaves which here fall away without seed Laurus Indica the Indian Bay thrives with us but slowly rising not above four foot high the branches cover'd with a yellowish green bark thick set with leaves which are betwixt those of the Cherry-Bay and the common kind the flowers grow in a long spike of a greenish white colour succeeded by Berries like small Olives this plant must be defended from frosts in Winter and is encreased by layers AVGVST CYclamen or Sowbread now appears without leaves on small naked stalks the flowers coming up folded in the leaves hanging down their heads and turning up their leaves again which are in all but five some of a bright shining reddish purple as the vernal one another that flowers in the Spring is of a pale purple there are also vernal whites ones single and double The small purple Cyclamen another larger of a reddish purple both Summer flowers But the most are those that in this Month of August begin to flower and continue so in September and some in October viz. The Ivie-leaved Cyclamen of Autumn of the palest purple colour The narrow leaved Cyclamen whereof one purple another white The double purplish colour'd Cyclamen having about a dozen leaves in a flower There is another as double that is white The spring Cyclamens are preferable before the rest but the double ones most of all and hardest to be got Some few dayes after the flowers come up their leaves fashion'd almost like Colts-foot leaves but have some indenting on the edges some more other sorts less some longer some rounder all of them strangely variegated spotted and circled with white green about the middle of the leaves on the upper side but that side underneath is red These flowers and leaves spring from a round flat Turnip root black on the outside not loosing their fibres therefore seldome removed but their time for Transplanting is a little before they put forth buds or flowers They