A WINTER GARDEN OF TREES 53 



which for every intent and purpose lies within our 

 reach ? 



Take Magnolias, for example. They are not sub- 

 tropical trees, as we are apt to think, but fairly 

 hardy, and the Laurel Magnolia, so well known as 

 a beautiful covering for a south wall, is seldom 

 enough seen in standard form. Yet it is one of the 

 most stately of evergreen trees, and it would be hard 

 to find one more worthy of a good position, sheltered 

 from north and easterly winds. The whole outline 

 of the tree is noble, with its broad, shining, russet- 

 backed leaves, a delight to look upon in winter nor 

 is it shy, when full-grown, of bearing in late summer 

 its scented ivory-white lily-cups. It is too much, 

 however, to expect the lovely-sculptured, crimson- 

 flushed cones, which in warmer climates than ours 

 open about November to disclose their hanging 

 scarlet seeds. Some of the deciduous Magnolias, 

 too, such as the fine Chinese Yulan (M. conspicua) 

 and the bushy white-flowered Japanese species (M. 

 slellatd), are full of interest, even while lifeless. All 

 through the winter we may watch the gradual filling 

 out of the hairy, conical flower-bracts, until at length, 

 in very early spring, the impatient buds can contain 

 themselves no longer, and all too soon, sometimes, 

 push them off altogether that they may creep out 

 of their prison bands. 



Every one has his private calendar, and reckons 

 the seasons by a computation of his own, but we 

 may safely say that four long months, if no more, 

 separate the falling of the leaf from its coming again. 



