In Lilac Tide 
H3 
bending over the flower borders, let us linger awhile 
in the wonderful old Lilac walk. It is a glory of 
tender green and shaded amethyst and grateful hum 
of bees, the very voice of Spring. Every sense is 
gratified, even that of touch, when the delicate plumes 
of the fragrant Lilac blossoms brush your cheek as 
you walk through its path ; there is no spot of fairer 
loveliness than this Lilac walk in May. It is a won- 
derful study of flickering light and grateful shade in 
midsummer. Look at its full-leaf charms opposite 
page 138 ; was there ever anything lovelier in any gar- 
den, at any time, than the green vista of this Lilac walk 
in July ? But for the thoughtful garden-lover it has 
another beauty still, the delicacy and refinement of 
outline when the Lilac walk is bare of foliage, as is 
shown on page 220 and facing page 154. The very 
spirit of the Lilacs seems visible, etched with a purity 
of touch that makes them sentient, speaking beings, 
instead of silent plants. See the outlines of stem and 
branch against the tender sky of this April noon. 
Do you care for color when you have such beauty of 
outline ? Surely this Lilac walk is loveliest in April, 
with a sensitive etherealization beyond compare. 
H ow wonderfully these pictures have caught the 
look of tentative spring — spring waiting for a single 
day to burst into living green. There is an ancient 
Saxon name for springtime — Opyn-tide — - thus 
defined by an old writer, “ Whenne that flowres 
think on blowen ” — -when the flowers begin to 
think of budding and blowing ; and so I name this 
picture Opyn-tide, the Thought of Spring. 
For many years Lilacs were planted for hedges ; 
