94 CALIFORNIA GARDEN FLOWERS. 



in another line of horticulture* the writer has chosen to begin with 

 July, chiefly because that is the point in the dry season between two 

 rainfall-years, which is designated as a starting point by the meteor- 

 ologists, but growing plants, if furnished with adequate moisture, pay 

 no attention to it. January is a central point in the rainy season but 

 is also a divide in the temperature record. It usually shows the lowest 

 temperature of the twelve-months, but not low enough to stop growth 

 and blooming, except the few plants which actually tolerate no frost. 

 With a whole year as a continuous growing season, for all plants except 

 these few and others which persist in the deciduous habit, one naturally 

 cannot find dormancy to start from and we therefore respect the 

 precedent of the ancients and the convenience of the moderns, with 

 whom the opening of a new year is a point of beginning and of making 

 good resolutions of which a garden should be one. 



JANUARY. 



January in the California garden is a month of limitations, but of 

 opportunities also, for though open-air blooms are relatively few, they 

 need not be absent. Observation of suburban gardens will demon- 

 strate the fact that California has no flowerless month. But January 

 certainly has trials for the gardener. The rains may be continuous and 

 cold, in places of largest precipitation, and the ground become so full 

 of water that planting is not wise, and there may be films of ice which 

 show that the temperature is too low for tender plants, and yet, even 

 in such places, the Japanese quince will clothe its dark branches with 

 ruddy brilliance; the flowering almond will almost conceal its light 

 green twigs with snowy bloom, and the camellia will contrast its dark 

 green foliage with a wealth of white, pink, red and variegated rosettes 

 which strive to atone for loss of fragrance by excess of formality. 

 Many other shrubs will also serve the planter who desires to gather 

 January flowers, while those who only plan for flush seasons of most 

 common growths may have gardens scant of beauty, except the glory 

 of the geraniums, which n.ever resent neglect. 



But regions of heaviest rainfall -and frosts do not measure the 

 January possibilities. The thermal belts in nearly all parts of the state 

 have much light, warm soil, which quickly frees itself of surplus water, 

 and in such places even slanting sunbeams arouse a host of both 

 woody >and herbaceous plants to blooming. In such places also hardy 

 deciduous trees, shrubs and flowering plants can be freely transplanted 

 and cuttings of shrubs and vines started on their courses. In fact, in 

 the drier parts of the state, where winter temperatures are high, Jan- 

 uary is one of the great planting months of the year, because <an early 



* "California Vegetables," Chapter X. 



