EARLIER FLOWERS 



Spircea astilbe, which are thickly planted below 

 all these shrubs and trees, lend their own interest 

 to this place. These little lambkins of spring 

 flowers are soon followed by daffodils and hya- 

 cinths, late low scillas blooming through veils of 

 the young green of leaflets on the boughs above 

 them, and I even have at the edge of the border 

 that noblest of all pink Darwin tulips, Mrs. Ker- 

 rell, with Scilla campanulata Excelsior in myriads 

 near by. From then on the border is a good mass 

 of foliage and a fair screen from the street. It is 

 in winter that the place is unbearable. I know 

 what I should do — consult a landscape-gardener 

 of reputation and get a proper planting plan for 

 that bit of ground. But, to lose the lovely spring 

 picture now always to be expected, is too great a 

 test of self-denial. Every one knows that little 

 colonies of spring flowers must be left undisturbed 

 year after year, to show their full beauty. Only 

 thus is an effect of naturalness to be got. 



The reverse of the medal is the actual opposite 

 of this space across the grass nearest the border 

 described. It is a grouping of shrubs against the 

 house itself, and gives as much pleasure in all 

 seasons as the other gives pain. To live with new 

 shrubs for fifteen years, suddenly to have a flood 



89 



