126 AUTUMNAL COLOR ON THE LAWN 



curious and effective. In habit it is -somewhat straggling 

 and open, but the color is positively unsurpassed. 



ATidrormda arhorea,OY Oxydendrwm.arl)oreum, the sorrel 

 tree, is another most excellent plant in the foreground of 

 our autumn picture. The leaves hang on late, and assume 

 lovely variegations of mottled green and red, turning later 

 into fine reddish crimson. Though a native plant, this 

 shrub is rare. It should certainly be as common as its slow 

 growth and difficult propagation will permit. 



Gornus florida, the white flowering dogwood of early 

 spring, has also glowing red autumnal tints on its leaves, 

 which compose themselves in broad stratified masses. 



All this color, however, in the case of shrubs intended 

 to carry out the general design, should be backed up in the 

 same manner as the coloi-s of trees were treated — that is, 

 vsdth plants of similar size and solid green foliage like the 

 California privet and laurel-leaved willow. Both are large 

 and rapid-growing, well calculated to make a pleasing con- 

 trast among the larger contours of the trees which constitute 

 the true background. A partial mingling of shrubs and 

 trees, moreover, gives the scene a natural appearance. The 

 stems of the trees are clothed by these shrubs much as they 

 are wont to be in woodland glades. For this purpose the 

 evergreen thorn comes in well with its dark-green or 

 bronze-red foliage, neat, beautiful, and compact, with that 

 picturesque irregularity of outline peculiar to thorns 

 generally. 



Few shrubs clothe these autumn tree trunks more 

 attractively than many of the olive or gray-green willows. 

 They put forth leaves, moreover, early and hold their foliage 



