894 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



mens of the flowers and plants and trees indigenuus to 

 their particular clime, all of which may be grown in 

 the remarkable climate of San Francisco, where flow- 

 ers bloom the entire year around and the daintiest of 

 blossoms may be picked at any time during the 

 winter. 



A map of the site was carefully marked with the 

 position of each bed of flowers, line of hedge and most 

 advantageous location for each tree. In the case of 

 these latter, deep holes were dug and these were filled 

 to the brim with the precious soil. 



Nurseries, greenhouses and lath-houses were con- 

 structed near the site of the drill-ground upon which 

 the troops of all nations will pass in review daily, and 

 in these were planted hundreds of thousands (if cut- 

 tings and seeds. 



M.\KING .\ LAKE OX THE EXPOSITION' (iROLXUS 



Then Jules Guerin, director of color for the Exposi- 

 tion, arrived for consultation with Mr. McLaren and 

 explained that in selecting the flowers only those 

 which would harmonize with the general and individ- 

 ual color schemes of the Exposition and the buildings 

 must be chosen. 



The plans were then revised, and as Mr. Guerin 

 selected his colors for each palace, the flowers wdiich 

 would best harmonize with those colors were chosen 

 from the world's collection. 



But most certainly this color scheme would be 

 spoiled completely if the flowers were not in full bloom 

 every month during ten months of the Exposition, 

 including all of the four seasons. Would it be possible 

 to make them bloom all of the time? Mr. McLaren 

 was asked. 



His master-scheme was then revealed. r>y a series 

 <5f rotation the gardener has promised that there will 

 never be a minute during the year of 1915 wdien all 

 of the flowers in sight of the public will not be in 

 full bloom. 



For every plant gruwing on the I'".xpcisition site there 

 will be du]jlicates in the greenhouses, lath-houses and 

 nurseries, and when any one of the plants ceases to 

 bloom, another, a duplicate from the gardens, will re- 

 place it. 



As immensity is the keynote of the plans of the arch- 

 itects building the Exposition, so great numbers play 

 an important part in the "Garden of Eden" plans for 

 the landscape engineers. 



There will be fifty acres of the greenest and most 

 velvety grass ever seen outside of America, and that 

 this is not an idle boast, the Exposition directors point 

 with pride to the eighteen acres now complete. 



A great aventie of thousands of date palms, hun- 

 dreds of which ha\e cost mure Ihan $100 each, will lead 



from une great court to another, and a hedge 60 feet 

 high will protect the gardens from the dust of the ad- 

 jacent streets, and this hedge itself is a masterpiece of 

 conception. It will be formed by placing large flower- 

 boxes one upon another in such a way that beautiful 

 vines — evergreen — will trail down from them and 

 form a continuous wall of li\'ing streamers and 

 festoons. 



More than 75,000 geraniums are now growing in the 

 nurseries and will be planted on the site in December, 

 1914. They will at that time have attained a growth 

 of from 2 to 3 feet in height. 



Tens of thousands of acacias are now blooming and 

 being boxed to bank the buildings, and these have been 

 selected so that the many varieties which bloom at 

 different times provide an equal number which will be 

 always in bloom. The acacia will be the only bloom- 

 ing tree on the grounds. 



Space has been allotted to the 25,000 veronicas now 

 on hand and blooming in Tennessee Hollow on the 

 Presidio Reservation adjoining the Exposition site, and 

 8,000 rhododendrons have been ordered from England 

 and Virginia. An equal number of begonias and 

 fuschias and hydrangeas and English laurel will de- 

 light the eye of the visitor. 



A great orchard has been despoiled of its orange 

 trees, and these will bloom for the benefit of the tourist 

 from the icy regions of the United States, where onh' 

 the cold-storage orange is known. To the tourist the 

 great variety and number of olive trees will also add 

 to the interest, and 6,000 of California's own tree, the 

 eucalyptus, will rear their gnarled and twisted trunks 

 -■iO feet above the grounds. 



The beautiful Fine Arts Palace will be banked with 

 massive green plants, and a bank of greenery and vines 

 will trail down from a pergola high on the top of the 

 building to the base. All of the palaces will receive an 

 appropriate "dressing" of flowers and shrubs in order 

 that the scheme nf the exhibits mav Ije accentuated. 



P.\LACE OF HORTICULTURE, IN COURSE OF CONSTRUCTION. 



The great labor of assembling these wonderful 

 plants and great trees together from all parts of the 

 world cannot be described and only imagined. 



To keep them alive afterward is a task in itself which 

 would daunt many of the foremost garden experts of 

 the world. Great trees, 10, 15, 20, 30 and 50 feet in 

 height and weighing up to ten tons, are transplanted to 

 the Exposition from Cuba, Africa, Nicaragua, Brazil 

 and the Philippine Islands. To accomplish this trans- 

 planting with(TUt endangering the life of the tree is a 

 scientific task. 



