38 SPRING EFFECTS ON THE LA WN. 



shining green of their young foliage is not surpassed in color 

 by their leaf clothing of any other season of the year. It 

 matters little which larch we take the vigorous Japan lep- 

 tolepsis,'or glauca, or the grotesque weeping form, or Da- 

 hurica, or even the common European and American species 

 or type their charming spring tints are alike lovely. Larches 

 look well and do well in outlying low portions of the lawn, 

 and are especially valuable for this soft and tender spring- 

 time beauty. If planted too near the house, the rusty hue 

 of midsummer they present, obtrudes itself unpleasantly on 

 the eye. 



The aspen poplar (Populus tremuloides ) also develops 

 beautiful early unf oldings of the leaf. It is, moreover, almost 

 as attractive in form and tint as the alders and birches. 

 All this we must remember is embryonic foliage, for early 

 spring is properly the season of leaf, buds, and early flowers. 

 Indeed, flowers are the crown and charm of spring, just as 

 leaves almost exclusively adorn the noteworthy plants of 

 midsummer and fall. As a rule, we have properly no de- 

 veloped foliage with early spring effects ; so although during 

 our discussion we have been led, almost unconsciously, into 

 dwelling on certain lovely leaf-buds of spring, we will hence- 

 forth devote ourselves conscientiously and exclusively to the 

 flowers that constitute spring's special wreath of glory. 



We have considered one charming yellow flower, Jos- 

 minum muliflorum, but a better and more effective bloom 

 appears almost as early on the long sweeping branches 

 of the well-known Forsythia viridissima or golden bell. 

 This shrub graces the dooryard of nearly every home that 

 attempts to grow any ornamental plants whatever. Yet its 



