242 CALIFORNIA GARDEN FLOWERS 



for the sake of neatness. The way natural to a palm is to maintain a 

 green crown and allow the dying leaves to decline and finally form a 

 thick clothing for the stem, retaining their places for many years. 

 The view of an old palm should present a clean, cylindrical shaft 

 below; above that the cover or thatch of dead leaves and above that 

 the crest of verdure. Most people, however, think that a palm does 

 not look neat with its shaft littered up that way, and so they cut off 

 all the old leaves and then cut off the living ones as soon as they begin 

 to show discoloration of age. If you like that sort of a palm you can 

 go to plucking the old plumes whenever you feel like it. One time for 

 doing so is as bad as another. 



If one dislikes the stubs he makes by trimming up he may conceal 

 them and perhaps compensate for the protection against heat and 

 drying which the natural leaf-cover provides, by growing light vines 

 on the palm trunk. Heavy vines should not be used. They are too 

 aggressive. Muehlenbeckia has been used with rather good effect, but 

 Kenilworth ivy is to us more graceful and appropriate. Of course 

 many others are suitable for the purpose. It is natural enough for 

 tropical palm trunks to be vine-clad. 



