EARLIER FLOWERS 



and to the left, as we face the wall, a group of 

 syringas or lilac Rothomagensis, the Rouen lilac. 



Next come some fine flowering currants or ribes, 

 then Spircea Vanhouttei, next to the right Hydran- 

 gea arborescens, interspersed by the rich greens of 

 Mahonia, and, finally, flanking the doorway just 

 mentioned, the graceful sprays of the aptly named 

 Philadelphus Avalanche. In the order of their 

 blooming thus they come: first the Rouen lilac; 

 and by the doorway are the groups of that charm- 

 ing Darwin tulip, Agneta, which carries the mauve 

 of the lilac across green leaf -masses to the visitor's 

 standing place; next tJie white spirea, the white 

 currant, the white mock orange, with the great 

 white tree the latest of these. Avalanche, at the 

 door, now welcomes all who come with graceful 

 showers of white but little fragrance, and when 

 Avalanche's beauty is departed the green mounds 

 of the hydrangea-buds slowly turn to cream, and 

 the dear sequence is complete. 



I wish I might make you who read see the love- 

 liness of this changing picture. These white 

 flowers melt like snows into each other. What a 

 marvel is that power of nature to turn the eye 

 from what is past its best to a fresh and flowering 

 beauty ! It is such gentle management — the one 



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