A GARDEN NOTE-BOOK 



doubtedly the lilac or syringa. Early shrubs have 

 lost their blossoms; the shadbush, the wild plum, 

 Spircea arguta, Forsythias are long since green again 

 after their white and gold of earliest spring; and 

 yet the great tribe of the mock oranges, the Phila- 

 delphus, is still to hang its whitening wreaths, still 

 to breathe out upon the airs of evening that un- 

 matched fragrance. Hydrangea arborescens will 

 follow these; then mid- June, and the procession 

 of most of the familiar flowering shrubs is over. 



Let us, translating Middlebush into lilac, con- 

 sider one of the most fascinating of all subjects, 

 the lilac in some of its species and varieties. I 

 bring to this a mind over-enthusiastic perhaps, 

 for in a modest way I am collecting. The first 

 blooming of my young trees occurred last spring. 

 The trees themselves were set out two years ago 

 this last autumn, and last spring all but four or 

 five of sixty varieties showed some flowers, while 

 many of the little three-foot things were in them- 

 selves bouquets of loveliest color. 



There is for me only one way in which ade- 

 quately to set down my impressions of a particu- 

 lar flower or plant; that is, with that flower or 

 plant before me. In May I rarely walk about 

 even our small place without the pencil and the 



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