52 ORNAMENTAL GARDENING 



A native elderberry, Sambucus intermedia, grows in the wettest 

 swamps, fresh or salt and is very ornamental, it produces its 

 large heads of snowy flowers in great abundance. Quite a num- 

 ber of bamboos do finely in wet ground, among them Arundo 

 donax, Bambusa disticha, B. argentea and the common giant 

 bamboo, B. vulgaris, a glorious plant. 



Many of the aquatics will grow in slightly brackish water and 

 fine effects may be produced by introducing these into artificial 

 pools. Our native Acrostichums are among the noblest of ferns 

 and they produce a fine effect when planted along the borders of 

 ponds or lakes. Osmunda spectabilis and Blechnum serrulatum 

 grow in very wet, brackish soil and are fine; Nephrolepis biser- 

 rata and N. exaltata, our native sword ferns, occupy all habitations 

 from the tops of trees to slightly brackish swamps. 



The following plants in addition to those mentioned above do 

 well in Florida swamps and low lands, all of them in slightly 

 brackish soil. Ficus aurea, F. brevifolia, Melaleuca leucadendron 

 or Cajeput tree, Delonix regia in soil not too wet, Pandanus 

 veitchi, P. sanderiana, P. baptisti, and P. candelabrum, Ravenala 

 madagascariensis . Nipa fruiticans , a magnificent palm from the 

 East Indies flourishes in the wettest, most brackish situations. 

 The Strelitzias, Alpinias, Cordia sebestina, Hamelia patens, Hibis- 

 cus rosa-sinensis and H. mutabilis, the Oleanders and Rhodomyrtus 

 tomentosa are also useful in this connection. 



It will be seen from the above list and from what has been 

 said that a great variety of attractive vegetation may be made to 

 grow in low and swampy places, that a considerable area of 

 Florida which has not only been considered worthless but even 

 a nuisance can, with a limited amount of labor and intelligence, 

 without the trouble of draining, be made into an earthly para- 

 dise. On the trees in such grounds many of the most lovely 

 Orchids and epiphytes will succeed; Philodendrons and other 

 aroid vines as well as many different climbers, can be made to cover 

 the trees. I am confidently looking forward to a time when my 

 pestiferous swamp, which in places was a miry bog, will be the 

 most charming spot on all my place, when instead of a waste of 

 weeds and sawgrass it will be filled with the beauty and fragrance 

 of ornamental plants and flowers. 



