GARDENS NEAR THE SEA 



rarities nor in any way extraordinary, but invariably 

 those that have proved worthy of planting outside 

 the seaside garden. Naturally not all American trees 

 do well in proximity to the water, but there are still 

 a sufficient number that thrive near it to give abundant 

 shade and variety. 



The white willow, Salix alba, with silvery gray 

 foliage, and the weeping willows, S. Babylonica, of 

 golden leaves in early spring and green throughout 

 the summer, are both charming trees about seaside 

 homes, since they and the water are long-time friends. 

 By the side of small inlets from the sea, in which their 

 reflections can be seen, they give a note of coloring 

 peculiarly their own. They are among the first trees 

 to respond to the caressing touch of spring and retain 

 throughout the summer a look of cool freshness. 

 In the autumn, when their gray-green tones contrast 

 with the more brilliant, ruddy hues of other foliage, 

 they appear to take on a solemnity of bearing, as 

 if they, alone, were to be left to meet the mist from 

 the sea, and the oncoming winter. Even through 

 the coldest weather their bark remains bright and 

 pretty. 



Neither the white nor the weeping willow is indig- 

 enous to this country. Still, after their introduction, 

 at the time of various settlements, they shortly began 

 to grow so lustily as to appear like natives of the 

 region. Plate vii., the illustration of white willows, 

 shows trees averaging a circumference of nine and a 

 half feet, at a distance of five feet from the ground. 

 They were planted in April 1801, at Salem, Massa- 



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