98 FLOWERS AND FOLIAGE OF SUMMER. 



indeed, all are fine at that season and the number of the 

 varieties is legion. I have mentioned, however, some of 

 the most remarkable. 



The poplars and vdllows generally seem to belong to an 

 earlier season than midsummer, but there are one or two 

 varieties I must mention in this connection. Many poplars 

 are objectionable on account of an evil habit of suckering 

 and a somewhat coarse appearance, valuable as they are in 

 many situations. But the balsam poplar is in every way a 

 fine ornamental tree. It is clean and healthy and free from 

 suckers, and has a grand outline and size of leaf. The color 

 of the foliage is rich and shining, and well fitting to the 

 summer lawn. Yellowish drab or brown and finely marked, 

 the branches and trunks are likewise attractive. 



Resembling the balsam poplar, in its fitness for the 

 summer lawn, there is the Salix laurifolia or pentandra, 

 the laurel-leaved willow. This plant has been employed 

 with little reference to summer, but few trees have finer 

 foliage in summer, and it continues bright and shining until 

 late in fall. It is strong-growing, however, more a tree than 

 a bush, and inclined to lose its lower branches, and therefore 

 should be planted in the screening masses of other shrubs. 



Of a dwarfer habit is the gray, curving, narrow-leaved 

 rosemary willow, the cool, soft tints of which are well fitted 

 to please the eye during the glaring days of August. It 

 suits the outskirts of shrub groups from its compact, round 

 and weeping habit. All the willows, in fact, are pleasant 

 to the eye in summer, and free from the worn-out look 

 peculiar to many trees at this season. 



There are two summer trees or shrubs (for they partake 

 of the characteristics of both shrub and tree) ^vhich we 



