' 1 ^_. - The SCBUiTST) g^iipsN By the same Author A GARDEN OF HERBS GARDEN-CRAFT IN THE BIBLE THE OLD-WORLD PLEASAUNCE THE OLD ENGLISH HERBALS THE OLD ENGLISH GARDENING BOOKS THE GARDEN LOVERS' DAYS THE STAR LOVERS' DAYS ETC. MMBMi FRESCO FROM THE 'GARDEN-ROOM' OF THE VILLA LIVIA Painted circa a.d. i. ' 262 The 8 SCS\TST> vU' OO SLStANOUR SINCLAIR ROHT>S Author of l A Garden of Herbs; ' Garden-craft in the Bible,' T6* OU »VM Pleasannce,' etc LONDON me METtici socieir a 7 g^FTOdt st^st PRINTED IN ENGLAND TO MAUD MESSEL WITH LOVE FROM E. S. R. "I wish unto you by dayly Prayer and fruition of the Heavenly Paradise cravyng of the Omnipotent and provident God, the guider of that gorgeous Garden that hee would vouchsafe to graunte unto you the sweete savour of his chiefe fragrante floures, that is his comfort to cleave faste unto you, his mercy to keepe you and his grace to guyde you nowe and evermore." (From the Epistle dedicatory addressed to William Cecil, Lord Burghley; Lord High Treasurer of England. 7be Gardeners Labyrinth 1577.) I FIND it difficult to express my gratitude to the Hon. Vicary Gibbs and to Colonel Messel for all the help they have so kindly given me, particularly with the lists. To both of them I am further indebted for reading the book in proof. I am also indebted for much kind help to Mr. J. Comber. Parts of this book have already appeared in article form in The Spectator and one part in The Landmark, and I am indebted to the editors for their kind permission to include these articles. I have quoted some lines at the end of the book from a poem which I liked and copied a few months ago from one of the leading journals. Unfortunately, I made no note at the time of the source or the name of the writer, who, I hope, will forgive me for quoting without acknowledgment. ELEANOUR SINCLAIR ROHDE Cran ham Lodge, Reigate, Surrey. " One worlde is crowned with faire red rosys . and the thyrd with lusty prymerosys and lylyes entermellyed and graciously arrayed." The Dreme of the pylgremage of the loule. Emprynted at Westminster by William Caxton. And fynyshed the sixth day of June the yere of our Lord MCCCCLXXXVI. And the first yere of the regne of Kynge Edward the fyfthe. 1 C0NT63(TS PACK INTRODUCTION I Chapter One JANUARY AND FEBRUARY IN THE SCENTED GARDEN 1J Chapter Two VIOLETS, PRIMROSES AND WALLFLOWERS 3 Chapter Three SPRING FLOWERING BULBS AND SHRUBS 54 Chapter Four THE SCENTS OF EARLY SUMMER 76 Chapter Five THE OLD ROSES IO5 Chapter Six THE AROMATIC HERBS I38 Chapter Seven THE AFTERNOON OF THE YEAR l6l Chapter Eight SWEET BAG, POT-POURRI AND OTHER RECIPES I9I Plant Lists A. TREES, SHRUBS AND CLIMBERS 260 B. HERBACEOUS PLANTS, ANNUALS, ETC. 29O C. BULBS, RHIZOMES, ETC. 299 D. AQUATICS 304 INDEX 305 THE SCS^TST) g^RT>63^ INTRODUCTION O:N the old Roman Via Cassia, once one of the most important highways of Europe, and northward beyond the bridge (of which the central part is 2000 years old), a road, corresponding more or less to the ancient Via Flaminia, leads to Prima Porta and to all that remains of the Villa Livia. Here the Empress Livia, second wife of Octavianus Augustus, 1 had a summer retreat whence she could see, as one can see to-day, a wonderful view of the Tiber, Rome in the distance, and the Campagna stretch- ing away to the blue Sabine Hills. Nothing remains of this villa save the spacious ' garden room,' with its barrel- vaulted roof and the walls, adorned all round with a singularly beautiful fresco representing a scented garden, possibly the Empress' favourite garden. Although painted 1900 years ago this wonderful fresco is in an exceptionally good state of preservation, for it is no ordinary fresco painting, with the colour laid on the wet plaster. The colour was worked in with wax, and it is probable that it was by no less an artist than Ludius, famous, according to Livy, in the days of Augustus. This no one can say for certain, but the fresco is the work of a master hand. Here we have depicted for us in arresting beauty an early morning scene in a scented garden of well-nigh two thousand years ago, and its fascination 1 The ' Caesar Augustus' of S. Luke 11. I. •^ The Scented Qarden $2- is in no small part due to the skill wherewith the artist has given a sense of distance. Indeed, one feels one is actually in the garden. On every wall the garden is depicted in two parts—in the foreground a part planted with low-growing flowers fenced with wooden trellis-work in front, and on the further side with a small exquisitely patterned screen in stonework. Beyond this lies the garden proper. The early morning breeze stirs the trees, and the mist is rising from the ground. What a wonderful scene it is ! Orange trees laden with fruit and flowers, oleanders, palms, pomegranates, olive trees, roses and carnations, as they were two thousand years ago, and many other flowers. And the butterflies and birds ! The more one looks at this garden scene, and it is surely one of the loveliest, though one of the least known, ever depicted, the more entranced one becomes. So great is the artist's skill that not merely does one gaze through his magic casement into a scented garden of two thousand years ago, but one is transported into the heart of it. As one wanders along this fresco one realizes something of the beauty of the gardens of far-off days, and one's thoughts fly to those still older gardens for which Egypt was famed over three thousand years ago. In the gardens of the ancient civilizations, shade, scent and water—water both seen and heard—were the essential features. Such were the gardens of ancient Egypt, and tomb-paintings reveal to us something of their stately magnificence. They excelled in the art of making gardens within gardens, and we can visualize the pleasure gardens with their painted pergolas covered with vines, their glorious water-gardens, the avenues of scented shrubs and their stately summer- houses. To the ancient Egyptian the flower of flowers — ^ Introduction $£ was the sweet-scented blue lotus Nymphaea coerulea. Few plants have indeed been held in such veneration, for to the Buddhists also the lotus was a sacred flower, sym- bolizing the purity of the spiritual life of man, for as the flowers have their roots in earth and water but float above in the sunlight, so the soul of man rises above the earth- life. How great was the skill of the perfumers of ancient Egypt ! In the tomb of the High Priest Ra Ouer (3000 b.c), recently discovered near the Sphinx, were found, amongst other treasures of inestimable value (in- cluding a necklace of 4000 rubies and a large gold vase containing golden flowers), some unknown substance so sweetly scented after the lapse of 4700 years that, to quote the description in the report, ' one was surprised by the delicious scent of flowers, as if sweet-smelling bouquets had only recently been placed there. One would say that the alabaster itself had been impregnated with some unknown substance capable of preserving the perfume for centuries.' It is difficult for our modern and Western minds to grasp the importance of perfume in the religious rites of the most ancient civilizations. In a recent article 1 in The Times, the writer, after referring to the belief that in 7000 or 6000 b.c. the vast areas in Arabia and Africa now desert were productive and well populated, and that from their inhabitants came a culture which had elements in common with the prehistoric European culture known as Tardenoisian, pointed out that in the dawn of history in the Sudan (not later than 3000 b.c) the most valued article of commerce, apart from gold, was incense or 1 ' A Relic of the Ancient World. The Incense Trade.' The limes, 5th July, 1930. •^ The Scented (garden ^ frankincense—regarded as of divine nature. ' It came from Southern Arabia and the neighbouring parts of Africa, and from remotest antiquity was held to be a panacea for all ills. So highly was it esteemed that the trade in aromatic spices and herbs was guarded by the pro- ducers with the utmost secrecy, and the secrecy of the trade was augmented by the exclusiveness of the religious ideas and rites attached to it. Control of the Arabian in- cense trade was one of the leading features in the foreign policy of all the great empires of the ancient world, such as Babylon, Assyria and Egypt.' The writer points out further the interesting fact that it was probably due first to the jealousies surrounding the incense trade, to its sanctity and prestige, that Arabia remained, and has remained until now, almost terra incognita to the rest of the world. Remembering the close connection between Egypt and the Holy Land, and that Solomon's chief wife was Pharaoh's daughter, it is more than probable that the gardens Solomon made for his pleasure closely resembled those for which Egypt had been famed for centuries, for- mal gardens with stately avenues, groves of pomegranates and scented shrubs, vine pergolas and water-gardens. From the Bible we know that Solomon's gardens were scented gardens, and the ' Song of Songs which is Solomon's,' the lyric of the scented garden, is full of the honeyed sweetness and aromatic fragrance of flowers and shrubs.