The Almond lawn for shade, or form the shelter between garden and road. 
and its These necessary screens are often of dull Privet or mixed shrubs, 
Varieties where they might well be of Damson, Bullace, or Mirabelle, 
laden with white blossom in spring, and purple or green fruit in 
autumn. The golden fruit of Shepherds’ Bullace hangs even 
till October, and is delicious picked up then from the grass. 
These plums never grow into big trees, and would not need 
the ugly lopping that unfortunate forest trees have to bear 
when planted in such small spaces. 
The fruit of the Almond does not form its great attraction, 
at any rate in England; its merit lies in the earliness of its 
lovely flowers. The pink sprays open before the trees have 
even burst their buds to clothe themselves in green, and mingle 
perfectly with the purples and browns of the awakened woods, 
and the warmer tones of Elms in flower. 
There are many varieties :—Amygdalus communis, dulcis, 
amara, and pendula. Macrocarpa and persicotdes have flowers 
rather bigger than the type, and are very early. All are pale 
pink, the petals in some flushed to a deep rose at the base, and 
the deeper colour of the centre intensified still further by the 
bunch of deep rose stamens. 
Only of recent years has it been realised that Almonds, 
which, like the whole genus of Prunus, prefer a warm 
soil and revel in lime, will thrive in spite of London fogs. 
The smoke-laden atmosphere makes a most becoming back- 
ground, and probably they are grateful for the shelter afforded 
them, so that the parks and dingy square gardens are now 
transformed with the exquisite pink branches. Still more 
beautiful are they against the dark green of Cypresses, or such 
a tree as Thuja orientalis, which has in a small way a very 
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