Antique Flowers: A Guide to Using Old-Fashioned Species in Contemporary Gardens

These anecdotal portraits, visual and verbal, of flowers that have been cultivated for a century or more will interest anyone with a floral appetite, whether hungering for marigold cheese (``an old English delicacy'' calling for dried marigold petals and ``the milk of seven cows and the cream from the milk of seven other cows'') or plant world personalities (the Blue Poppy is ``fussy and elusive,'' the Welsh Poppy ``steadfast and cheerful''). Spanning American and European gardens, the husband-and-wife effort presents more than 40 flowers alphabetically, from Alchemilla vulgaris (lady's mantle) to Viola (violet), including in each portrait the common and botanic name; background material (e.g., the derivation of the name); and cultural information, interspersed with flower wisdom from noted writers and gardeners (Thomas Jefferson, Charles Darwin and Margery Fish, ``the Champion of Weeds''). A helpful final section offers practical gardening guidance, as well as a source list and bibliography. Whiteside writes on gardens for magazines (e.g., Metropolitan Home ); Hales's work has appeared in many publications. (Jan.)