THE WELL-CONSIDERED GARDEN 



things, a rock which lay here under the apple- 

 trees when twenty years ago we bought our two 

 acres of ground. 



The stone is gray, and in late May the bough 

 of the old Bellflower apple, which droops above it, 

 is set with rosy buds and clear-white flowers. 

 Below this branch may be seen the leafless, 

 thorny stems of Rosa spinosissima altaica, one of 

 my many delightful presents from Mr. W. C. 

 Egan, whose eightieth birthday was lately cele- 

 brated by the Garden Club of Illinois. Is there a 

 pleasure comparable to that coming from the gift 

 of a rare shrub or plant ^ I think not. Joy per- 

 petual comes with such givings. In autumn and 

 winter the dark haws of this rose are interesting, 

 the thorny branches have their own attraction; in 

 early spring the darting leaf buds are an excite- 

 ment. In June the pure-white roses are a flowery 

 miracle and our rock is again hung with, enveloped 

 by, beauty. Now the leafless rose-stems of the 

 first period I now describe hold the stage with 

 their fine bloom. The Bellflower branch is clothed 

 with green apple-leaves, while its lower neighbor 

 proclaims to all how beautiful a species rose can 

 be. This is a fine form of the Scotch rose, with 

 thorns in thousands along its branches, a beauti- 

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