128 ORNAMENTAL GARDENING 



and it may be said here that you can't have too many palms. 

 They are soTmagnificent, so characteristic of the tropics, so strange 

 and striking to northern eyes that it seems to me it is hard to 

 overdo in planting them. Put them out singly, in groups, mix 

 them with other vegetation, and in a few years they will grow 

 into objects of wonderful beauty and stateliness, a perennial 

 comfort to the heart, a joy to the eye, something to show with 

 swelling pride to friends and visitors. 



ORNAMENTAL EXOTIC TREES. 



There is such a wealth of attractive material among exotic 

 trees that are adapted to the soil and climate of Florida that it 

 is hard to know what to choose and what to reject. I have over 

 one hundred species of ornamental tropical trees in my grounds 

 without including palms and I have only a mere fraction of what 

 may be grown. 



Acacia. A large genus of trees and shrubs mostly from Aus- 

 tralia, having compound leaves (sometimes phyllodia) and cylin- 

 drical or globular heads of flowers. I have tried a dozen or more 

 species under various conditions and have met with almost total 

 failure. A. neriifolia does fairly well. 



Adansonia digitata, Baobab Tree of Tropical Africa, reaches 

 enormous dimensions, the trunks sometimes attaining a diameter 

 of thirty feet, though the height of the tree rarely equals eighty. 

 The wood is remarkably soft; the leaves of young trees are simple 

 but those of larger ones are trifoliate, and at a later stage of 

 growth digitate. The flowers are large and handsome; the fruit 

 is the size of a small melon, and is edible. I have a small tree 

 which grows very slowly; another in Miami has bloomed. 



Adenanthera pavonina, Circassian Bean, is an attractive tree 

 with compound leaves and spikes of brownish flowers. These 

 are followed by spiral pods containing brilliant scarlet, lenticular 

 beans which are used in its native country, India, for food and 

 for forming elegant necklaces. It is a rapid grower and is 

 somewhat hardy. 



Ailanthus glandulosa, Tree of Heaven, is a very rapid grower 

 from China, having immense pinnate leaves which have a decid- 



