Ednas Flower Gardens 



183 



she hung where she could see them best and enjoy 

 their fragrance. Cattleyas, laelias, oncidiums, and 

 many other rare and beautiful forms were her daily 

 companions. 



Vanilla vines climbed up the trunks of the cocoa- 

 nut trees and the royal palm. The shape of the 

 flowers showed that they were orchids, which sur- 

 prised Edna. Their long pods are usually gathered 



Fig. 67. A collection of desert plants at the New York Botanical Garden, 

 with melon cacti and century plants in the foreground. 



before they are quite ripe and cured in a special way 

 to develop vanillin, the substance which gives the 

 agreeable odor to the pods. 



In a dry corner of the yard, fenced off from Snow- 

 ball, Edna had her rocky bed of cacti, century plants, 



