70 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 
with red top, but this is soon crowded out by the annual 
grasses which permanently reseed themselves. The Lucas 
garden is planted during the summer with tropical bedding 
plants and these furnish a highly colored floral display until 
the advent of frost. Throughout the winter the garden is 
devoid of any permanent vegetation. Farther west toward 
Grand Avenue there is a little improvement, but the small 
parks at the Lindell Avenue and Washington Avenue cut- 
offs are green only because of the annual grasses. The Cen- 
tral States Life Insurance Co., at 3200 Washington Avenue, 
attempted to establish a formal garden west of the office 
building. This was planted with various shrubs and peren- 
nials, also Lombardy poplars to exclude the surrounding 
buildings. All the perennials, after making scanty growth, 
died the first year, and annual replacement is necessary. 
The most permanent shrubs are the Regel’s and California 
privet (most of the latter dying out last winter) and Cornus 
stolonifera. There are two lilacs which have maintained 
themselves for the last three years but without producing 
flowers. Berberis Thunbergiu has been replanted several 
times, usually succumbing to the first winter. The Lom- 
bardy poplars call for replacement annually. Last fall 
peonies were planted, but despite the favorable season their 
growth soon became soot-coated and the flower buds failed 
to open. It is only by the use of summer bedding and 
annuals that any sort of garden effect can be maintained. 
Such open spaces as Tower Grove Park, Compton Heights 
Reservoir Park, and the Missouri Botanical Garden show 
some improvement over downtown conditions. However, the 
number of species lost annually from the Garden collection, 
particularly during the past ten years, has been so discour- 
aging that steps are being taken to create an out-of-town 
garden, so that the reputation of the Missouri Botanical 
Garden as one of the foremost botanical gardens of the world 
may be maintained. Thirty years ago the Garden was noted 
for its complete collections of conifers and evergreens. To-day 
there are left a few dying Austrian pines, a small procum- 
bent Canadian hemlock opposite the old residence, and one 
yew, opposite the Cleveland Avenue gate-house, surrounded 
by the lilae collection, which also shows the effect of the 
