52 IN A GLOUCESTERSHIRE GARDEN 



things which make the garden bright in April, that I 

 may say something of the shrubs of April. 



I cannot understand why so very few people grow 

 the spring-flowering magnolias. Many grow the large 

 M. grandiflora ; but coming from the Southern United 

 States, it is doubtfully hardy, and I have twice had it 

 quite killed by frost, though the stem of the tree was 

 6 in. through ; nor have I found it an easy tree to 

 manage. But the Chinese and Japanese species are 

 perfectly hardy, very easy to manage, and in spring 

 giving an abundance of most handsome flowers. The 

 species which I cultivate, and which have been in 

 wonderful beauty during the month, are M. Lennei, 

 with large flowers, of a rich, rosy red, and each petal 

 looking like a fine shell, M. obovata, M. purpurea, and 

 M. stelkita. This last I think the best of all ; it forms 

 a low shrub, which is covered with small flowers of 

 quite a dazzling white. The drawback to these de- 

 ciduous early magnolias is that their flowers are apt to 

 be caught by the spring frosts, but the same objection 

 does not apply to the Japanese orange, Citrus trifoliata, 

 which I have known covered with its white blossoms at 

 the time of frost, but not a flower was injured. This is 

 a curiously neglected shrub, for it has been introduced 

 many years, and has very pretty foliage, and some- 

 times produces little oranges, which, however, are of 



