THE AMATEUR GARDEN 



thousand blossoms open at once and the sod 

 beneath innumerably starred with others al- 

 ready fallen. The night jasmine, in full green, 

 was not yet in blossom but it was visibly think- 

 ing of the spring. The Chinese privet, of twenty 

 feet stature, in perennial leaf, was saving its 

 flowers for May. The sea-green oleander, fif- 

 teen feet high and wide (see extreme left 'fore- 

 ground, page 176), drooped to the sward on four 

 sides but hoarded its floral cascade for June. 

 The evergreen loquat (locally miscalled the 

 mespilus plum) was already faltering into bloom; 

 also the orange, with its flower-buds among its 

 polished leaves, whitening for their own wed- 

 ding; while high over them towered the date 

 and other palms, spired the cedar and arbor- 

 vitae, and with majestic infrequency, where 

 grounds were ample, spread the lofty green, 

 scintillating boughs of the magnolia grandiflora 

 (see left foregrounds on pages 174, 182 and 184), 

 the giant, winter-bare pecan and the wide, mossy 

 arms of the vast live-oak. 



Now while the time of year in which these 

 conditions are visible heightens their lovely 



184 



