228 PUBLIC PARKS OP IOWA 



In the Grinnell College botanical garden we have tried all the species 

 we could get of asters and goldenrods, rosin weeds, sunflowers, rudbeckias, 

 and the like. I have also sent specimens east for experimentation. Gen- 

 erally speaking, the prairie flowers are not a success in the east, owing to 

 excess of moisture and deficiency of light. They grow tall and spindling 

 and easily fall over. But that simply means that we need to develop dwarf 

 stock types suitable for that climate. 



Some of our plants are already quite ideal for cultivation. Heliopsis is 

 a most satisfactory garden plant, and is today quite equal to the calendula 

 which has been cultivated and selected for hundreds of years. Rudbeckia 

 subtomentO'sa is one of the most splendid objects in our gardens. It 

 grows most vigorously, has no enemies ; makes a very shapely tussock of 

 stalks, is easily propagated but does not spread about. Only a very severe 

 drought dulls its beauty. A single spray of this plant in full bloom is a 

 very showy object. It ought to be widely cultivated. Lepachys pimata 

 behaves most admirably in cultivation. It forms a neat compact clump 

 of roots, from which spring a larse number of slender stalks, each bear- 

 ing several of its airy negligee heads. There is nothing among the yel- 

 low flowers more neat and airy and altogether wild and modest in ap- 

 pearance. This plant already appears' in many slight variations. It is 

 just waiting for the hand of the plant-breeder. Helianthus grosse-ser- 

 ratu c . is another plant which exists in several slightly different forms, 

 waiting for careful training and selection. 



Our native helenium is second to none of its relatives, either in natural 

 beauty, luxuriance of bloom, size, color, habit of growth, or ease of 

 propagation. Two eastern species are in gardens why not ours too? 



And so, one might go on to discuss a host of native plants that will 

 some day be valued at home, and will doubtless be recognized as great 

 treasures by flower lovers everywhere. It would be a real calamity fcr 

 these species to be obliterated, or reduced to insignificance. 

 . By way of preserving the native flora and beautifying the countryside, 

 it has been suggested that more discrimination be used in the trimming 

 and cleaning up of our roadsides. Let alone the gorgeous beds of na- 

 tive flowers, and even the occasional tufts of wild plum and crab apple. 

 Cut off onily the foreign and unsightly weeds. This plan is admirable if 

 practicable. But I see very little hope of carrying it out until every farm 

 laiborer is both artist and botanist, or until all our roadsides are cared 

 for by landscape architects. 



Much might be done by private effort. Use the native flora in your 

 garden. I find it splendid. On large estates in Iowa, if we are to have 

 such, let the landscaping include a proper share of natural vegetation. 

 Why import from the ends of the earth, and copy the decorations of other 

 regions? Let us have a prairie art, our own in style and in material. 

 Then allow the public to come in and enjoy your great estate. If pri- 

 vately developed estates, must be closed to all the poorer flower-loving 

 aeighbors, as they usually are in the East, then may Iowa be spared 

 mch selfishness. Rather let every schoolhouse become a social center. 

 There let art, literature, and music flourish indoors, and let landscape art 

 Befitting the place flourish outside. Couldn't we afford an acre of land 



