68 



JUNE EFFECTS ON THE LAWN. 



acquires far greater beauty from a deep-crimson flush that 

 suffuses the very curious and formal arrangement of pistils 

 and stamens. This arrangement and color give the flower 

 the appearance of having a deep-red heart. The foliage 

 and general habit of M. par-viflora is neat and thrifty. 



The purple fringe, Rlius cotinus, although somewhat in- 

 ferior to the white fringe in general characteristics, and to 

 which, indeed, it bears no relation except in name, is exqui- 

 sitely subtle and lovely in the coloring of its flowers. These 

 flowers come in June and envelop the entire bush or tree 

 in rosy-purple, rounded masses of soft, fleecy clouds. It is 

 well-named the smoke tree, for I know nothing to which 

 the disposition and coloring of its small, numerous flowers 

 can be more aptly compared than a mass of smoke suffused 

 and penetrated with sunlight. 



On first turning to the consideration of summer- 



flowering plants, we are 

 at once attracted to the 

 most splendidly gifted 

 of the entire class, viz. : 

 Rhododendrons and 

 lianh a/alcas. They 



seem intended to be 

 grouped together and 

 are usually employed 

 in that way. The azalea 

 is, in every way, smaller 

 fa^ fo Q rhododendron, 

 and when planted on the outskirts of a group of the latter, 

 shade off harmoniously the outline of a mass of the former. 



RHODODENDRON. 



