"And now we must imagine first, The elves present, to quench his thirst, A pure seed-pearl of infant dew Brought and besweetened in a blue And pregnant violet, ..."

"The violet knots, like curious mazes spread O’er all the garden, ..."

"The Violet (purple Senator)"

"There on Beds of Violets blew,"

"Here the violet bows to greet Her with homage to her feet;"

"See how this Violet which before Hung sullenly her drooping head, As angry at the ground that bore The purple treasure which she spread, Doth smilingly erected grow, Transplanted to those hills of snow.And whilst the pillows of thy breast Do her reclining head sustain, She swells with pride to be so blest, And doth all other flowers disdain, Yet weeps that dew which kissed her last, To see her odours so surpast.Poor flower! how far deceiv’d thou wert, To think the riches of the morn, Or all the sweets she can impart Could these or sweeten or adorn, Since thou from them do’st borrow scent, And they to thee lend ornament."

"Violets! — deep-blue violets! April's loveliest coronets! There are no flowers grow in the vale, Kiss'd by the dew, wooed by the gale, — None by the dew of the twilight wet, So sweet as the deep-blue violet!"

"Though many a flower may win my praise, The violet has my love; I did not pass my childish days In garden or in grove: My garden was the window-seat, Upon whose edge was set A little vase—the fair, the sweet— It was the violet."

"The sun-observing marigold."

"Duchess of York: Welcome, my son: who are the violets now That strew the green lap of the new come spring?Duke of Aumerle: Madam, I know not, nor I greatly care not: God knows I had as lief be none as one.Duke of York: Well, bear you well in this new spring of time, Lest you be cropp'd before you come to prime."

"The Marigold the leaues abroad doth spred, Because the sunnes, and her power is the same:"

"No marigolds yet closed are, No shadows great appeare."

"Nor shall the marigold unmentioned die, Which Acis once found out in Sicily; She Phoebus loves, and from him draws his hue, And ever keeps his golden beams in view."

"When with a serious musing I behold The graceful and obsequious marigold, How duly every morning she displays Her open breast, when Titan spreads his rays."

"The propre vyolet;"

"Vpon her head a Cremosin coronet, With Damaske roses and Dafadillies set: Bayleaues betweene, And Primroses greene Embellish the sweete Violet."

"Here's flowers for you: Hot lavender, mints, savory, marjoram: The marigold, that goes to bed wi' the sun, And with him rises weeping."

"A filbert-hedge with wild-briar overtwined, And clumps of woodbine taking the soft wind Upon their summer thrones."

"And honeysuckle loved to crawl Up the low crag and ruin'd wall."

"And bid her steal into the pleached bower, Where honeysuckles, ripen'd by the sun, Forbid the sun to enter, like favorites, Made proud by princes, that advance their pride Against that power that bred it."

"And stroke with listless hand The woodbine through the window, till at last I came to do it with a sort of love."

"Around in silent grandeur stood The stately children of the wood; Maple and elm and towering pine Mantled in folds of dark woodbine."

"I sat me down to watch upon a bank With ivy canopied and interwove With flaunting honeysuckle."

"And the woodbine spices are wafted abroad, And the musk of the rose is blown."

"I plucked a honeysuckle where The hedge on high is quick with thorn, And climbing for the prize, was torn, And fouled my feet in quag-water; And by the thorns and by the wind The blossom that I took was thinn'd, And yet I found it sweet and fair."

"The tulip's petals shine in dew, All beautiful, but none alike."

"Dutch tulips from their beds Flaunted their stately heads."

"Guarded within the old red wall's embrace, Marshalled like soldiers in gay company, The tulips stand arrayed. Here infantry Wheels out into the sunlight."

"Not one of Flora's brilliant race A form more perfect can display; Art could not feign more simple grace Nor Nature take a line away."

"And tulips, children love to stretch Their fingers down, to feel in each Its beauty's secret nearer."

"Like tulip-beds of different shape and dyes, Bending beneath the invisible west-wind's sighs."

"'Mid the sharp, short emerald wheat, scarce risen three fingers well, The wild tulip at end of its tube, blows out its great red bell, Like a thin clear bubble of blood, for the children to pick and sell."

"You believe In God, for your part?—ay? that He who makes, Can make good things from ill things, best from worst, As men plant tulips upon dunghills when They wish them finest."

"We may find the Divine to be 3,000 times what we think it is now. It's like asking the tulip there to explain you. The tulip is a beautiful creation, with millions of atoms cooperating with each other to produce great beauty, but ask that tulip to talk about you, and it can't do it. It doesn't have those perceptive abilities. Wouldn't it be conceited to suggest that I had the abilities to describe the deity?"

"The tulip is a courtly quean, Whom, therefore, I will shun."

"The Sunflow'r, thinking 'twas for him foul shame To nap by daylight, strove t' excuse the blame; It was not sleep that made him nod, he said, But too great weight and largeness of his head."

"Ah, Sunflower, weary of time, Who countest the steps of the sun; Seeking after that sweet golden clime, Where the traveller's journey is done; Where the youth pined away with desire, And the pale virgin shrouded in snow, Arise from their graves, and aspire Where my Sunflower wishes to go!"

"With zealous step he climbs the upland lawn, And bows in homage to the rising dawn; Imbibes with eagle eye the golden ray, And watches, as it moves, the orb of day."

"Restless sunflower; cease to move."

"Light-enchanted sunflower, thou Who gazest ever true and tender On the sun's revolving splendour."

"But one, the lofty follower of the Sun, Sad when he sets, shuts up her yellow leaves Drooping all night; and, when he warm returns, Points her enamoured bosom to his ray."

"Space for the sunflower, bright with yellow glow, To court the sky."

"Eagle of flowers! I see thee stand, And on the sun's noon-glory gaze; With eye like his, thy lids expand, And fringe their disk with golden rays: Though fix'd on earth, in darkness rooted there, Light is thy element, thy dwelling air, Thy prospect heaven."

"As the sunflower turns on her god when he sets, The same look which she turn'd when he rose."

"Dark-green and gemm'd with flowers of snow, With close uncrowded branches spread Not proudly high, nor meanly low, A graceful myrtle rear'd its head."

"The myrtle (ensign of supreme command, Consigned by Venus to Melissa's hand) Not less capricious than a reigning fair, Oft favors, oft rejects a lover's prayer; In myrtle shades oft sings the happy swain, In myrtle shades despairing ghosts complain."