WHEN does spring begin? The calendar sets the date March twenty-first, but most gardeners know that in the northeastern section of the country, growing weather does not start until the latter part of April. Farther south and in warmer sections of the West, the date is earlier. On each warm sunny day from late February through March the ardent gardener has an urge to poke around in sheltered spots in the hope that some venturesome plant will be showing a touch of color, or at least a hint of growth. Spring really begins for us when we find the first flower!

Plan for as early bloom as possible. Though many gardens are almost bare of color until May, and even then show only a few scattered groups of early bulbs, you do not have to wait so long. Careful planning in the fall will provide at least one or two charming early pictures. In the shelter of a terrace wall, we have groups of snowdrops as early as February. On a southern wall of the house, the fragile yellow blossoms of winter jasmine show almost as early and continue to spill cascades of bloom until the garden itself takes up the pro- cession of bloom.

First Flowers

The first real signs of spring are found among the native shrubs. The long drooping catkins of alder are soon followed by witch-hazel, shadbush, and cornelian cherry. Many im ported varieties-Nanking cherry, Chinese witch-hazel (Ha mamelis mollis), the so-called Winter-hazel (Corylopsis), Japanese quince (japonica to many), and star magnolia, as well as the native dogwood and redbud, put forth blooms be fore foliage. If you plant a few of these early things in the foreground of the shrub borders that enclose the garden, or in a sheltered corner of a fence, hedge, or wall, you will not have to wait for spirea and lilac.

With these early shrubs, plant the very early bulbs to create small pictures to begin the garden year. Enterprizing growers have gathered some of these into collections, aptly named Heralds of Spring, and Breath of Spring. They include snow drops, scillas, winter aconites, chionodoxas, grape hyacinths, and crocuses, from the very early to the late "Dutch" varie ties. Here is enough material to create a really charming com position in some sunny sheltered spot away from the cold searching winds of early spring.

In one garden we know star magnolias flank a bench at the end of a garden. Underplanted with myrtle, through which myriads of grape hyacinths and early scillas poke their heads, they make an effective picture.