The Washington times., 1936-04-14
NOW
Ode to Beautiful
FOrsythin
BY HELEN EsSARY

BY HELEN ESSARY
There Is story Of springtime
loveliness in WaShington's for
Sythia.
Having become q little fatigued
with over-advertised cherry bios
SONS, I wonder why no one goes
into rhapsodies over the hundreds
Of these bright bushes. No other
city has half as much forsythia
as Washington, and yet such
beauty is seldom mentioned.
Except for the crocuses, for
sythia Is the first herald Of spring
along the Potomac. 1t bursts into
bloom ahead Of the pussywillows.
And this reminds me that there
are two wonderful pussywillows on
Cleveland Avenue that deserve to
have their pictures taken.
From shining embassies on Mas
sachusetts Avenue and Sixteenth
Street. and big estates behind iron
fences and beyond travelled roads
to tumbledown huts in the
wrong" part Of town. Washing
ton now is radiant with the for
sythia.
The series of descending ter
races Of the Central High School
garden just across from Garfield
Hospital look as if the glory Of a
hundred suns had Illuminated
them.
Another terrace above the street
on Massachusetts, Avenue, be-
tween Fourteenth and Fifteenth
Streets is bright with blossom.
The austere red brick Of the Ger
man embassy and the ugly sur
rounding houses are redeemed by
alch glowing beauty
Along Massachusetts, Avenue, on
both sides Of the street, from Wis
consin Avenue all the way to
Union Station, forsythia punctu.
ateS the gardens and parks. AS
you drive along the mirror Of your
car reflects the graceful yellow
bushes.
Forsythia glows against the
gray stone walls Of the Cathedral
School for Girls and st. Adams
School for Boys.
In the rolling hills of the Naval
Observatory grounds are gorgeous
masses Of color.
On Wisconsin Avenue as you go
d4wn the hill to Georgetown the
lawns Of the Weaver houses, fam
GUS for their gardens and their
pink dogwood a little later in the
spring announce the end Of win
ter with many blooming forsythia.
In Georgetown dozens Of fine
old gardens just beginning to
awaken are shining with the vel
low bushes. In old Cleveland Park
on Lowell and Newark Streets, in
Chevy Chase, Massachusetts Park,
In the grounds Of the Soldiers
Home and Walter Reed Hospital
are so many bright bushes that
you feel as if a special exhibit had
been arranged as q sort Of stage
setting.
In Twin Oaks, Single Oak, and
In RoSedale the last now owned
by Mrs. Avery Coonley General
washington often stayed here
when the house was the home Of
General Forrest, Of Georgetown,)
are winding borders Of yellow
beauty.
have touched on only few Of
the gorgeous forSythia blooms.
You must know many more your
self.
And surely you've been enjoying
every bush. For forsythia is never
disappointing.
One Of its joys to a careless
gardener Is that it seems to re-
quire no particular attention. The
less it is pruned, the more it
blooms.
You may forget it completely
after its blossoms fade. But it will
blossom happily for you when the
next uncertain spring comes
around.
The magnolia trees in Washing
ton also are exquisite and some
times overlooked in the cherry
Blossom orgy.
One Of the most famous mag.
nolias in America glorifies Frank
lin Park. This tree was once the
feature of a whole issue Of a
garden magazine.
The magnolia grove on the
Speedway in Potomac Park, not
far from that green-and-white
building Of the Academy Of
Sciences lone of my favorite pub
lie buildings), is thrillingly beau
tiful.
The John ChildreSSeS, in the
yard Of their home on Wyoming
Avenue and Twentieth Street,
have two fine white nna9nOliaS,