II 



THE GOLDEN BELL 

 Forsythia 



Forsythia suspensa . . . Hanging Golden Bell 

 Forsythia viridissima . . Green-leaved Golden Bell 



B/VRE branches hung with a great multitude of 

 golden bells, the gold gleaming in fitful sun- 

 shine, its vividness undiluted by any green of 

 foliage as the bells swing in pairs in the blustering 

 March wind that is the picture of this shrub that 

 makes apparent the appositeness of its title " the shrub 

 of the golden bell." And the pretty oriental-sounding 

 name suggests its real home, for it came to us a gift 

 from the Far East. Two species are now found in 

 our gardens, the Hanging Golden Bell (Forsythia sus- 

 pensa], with lissom graceful shoots that trail from wall 

 or arch, and the Green-leaved Golden Bell (Forsythia 

 viridissima), a compact erect shrub whose flowers are 

 somewhat more thickly set upon the branches. 



The former is the more familiar in our gardens 

 and is the one we knew first, for it was brought to 

 Europe to Holland indeed from Japan in the year 



9 



