Familiar Garden Flowers

Two hundred garden flowers, each with F. Edward Hulme's hand-drawn colour plate and Shirley Hibberd's essay — five series of the best-loved flower book of the Victorian garden, complete.

Shirley Hibberd

4 pages in this part of Familiar Garden Flowers.

Shirley Hibberd (Where does the wisdom)

"Where does the wisdom and the power divine In a more bright and sweet reflection shine? Where do we finer strokes and colours see Of the…

Shirley Hibberd (Amid my garden's broider'd)

"Amid my garden's broider'd paths I trod, And there my mind soon caught her favourite clue; I seem'd to stand amid the church of God, And…

Shirley Hibberd (Every flower that blooms)

"In every flower that blooms around, Some pleasing emblem we may trace: Young love is in the myrtle found, And memory in the pansy's grace…

Shirley Hibberd (Loveliest flowers the closest)

"The loveliest flowers the closest cling to earth, And they first feel the sun: so violets blue; So the soft star-like primrose drenched in…

Rights & ReuseThe complete text of Familiar Garden Flowers (1879) is in the public domain in the United States — like all works published before 1928 — and is free to read, download, quote, teach from, and reuse. This digital edition (its transcription, restored images, and site design) is © 2026 PhotoOpAI, and any editorial commentary we add is clearly marked as ours; the underlying public-domain text carries no such restriction.