They were not injured in the least by the severe cold of the winter which cut down all our tender varieties to the ground. Madame George Bruant, which has Rugosa blood in it, escaped unharmed, and it has been covered with large and fragrant blossoms. Late in May, Eleagnus umbellatus, which we long mistook for E.longipes , began to open its small very fragrant flowers, which were freely borne'along the branches. These are cream-white when they first appear, fading to dull yellow before they fall. I was very much put out with this shrub because it did not behave as E. longipes was said to do in regard to its bearing of fruit, but, nevertheless, I find it a most interesting plant, and its fruit, which ripens in October after the frosts and hangs upon the trees as late as Christmas, is to me delightful.
Paeonies still continue to dazzle our eyes with their bright colors.
I had been told that these plants resented any disturbance of their roots, and that they would not flower the year they were removed. I am glad to be able to make a denial of this statement. No one who has a place for a small tree or a large shrub should be without the White Fringe-tree, which went out of bloom here a week ago. When in flower it seems to be covered with a bridal-veil of the airiest texture, so exquisite is the delicacy of the white blossoms. Other shrubs are coming into bloom so fast that there is no room for a catalogue of all the Mock Oranges, Deutzias, Dogwoods, Corchoruses and Lilacs, but I must saya word for Syringa villosa , which blooms after the garden forms of S. vulgaris are all gone.