LILACS AND SPRING FLOWERS 



memorandum block; and the notes which follow 

 were made in the very presence of the lovely 

 things themselves. If these comments seem ex- 

 travagant, the excuse is the overwhelming beauty 

 of the flowers, and that excitement which the gar- 

 dener always feels when confronted for the first 

 time with something as fine as it is new to him. 

 Let me name some few of these lilacs, and add a 

 word or two concerning each. For better de- 

 scriptions I would send you to what Professor 

 Sargent, Mr. Wilson, Mr. Havemeyer, Mr. Dun- 

 bar, and Mr. Barry have written upon these flow- 

 ers. I have not compared my notes with theirs, 

 nor did I consult theirs before making these, as I 

 wished to be quite unprejudiced in my comments. 

 The earliest of all to bloom was Syringa Giraldii; 

 delicate pinkish, a very open cluster, graceful, and 

 free flowering. Marechal Lannes carried immense 

 bluish-mauve flowerets, the thyrsus not very large 

 but most eflFective for the size and color of its 

 flowerets; exceedingly handsome. Mme. Antoine 

 Buchner is a very distinct flower; buds of a faded 

 pink, flowers of pinkish-white, slightly double. 

 The flower clusters here were rather open and 

 branching; this is a lilac of great slenderness 

 and elegance. 



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