Crossword Genius

Quality of lovely start to spring in meadows? (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

leafiness

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'quality' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are singular nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?

'lovely start to spring in meadows?' is the wordplay.
'lovely' becomes 'fine' (fine can mean lovely or beautiful).
'start to' says to take the initial letters.
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'meadows?' becomes 'leas' (lea can mean a meadow or field).
The first letter of 'spring' is 's'.
'fine'+'s'='fines'
'fines' inserted within 'leas' is 'LEAFINESS'.

'of' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for leafiness that I've seen before include "green growth" , "Forest will uphold such" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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