326 TROPICAL EFFECTS 



look, this "nearly tropical luxuriance," until American plants 

 constitute the bulk of our plantings. 



We must have a little "spice," however, and my present 

 object is to explain the different ideas that roam about in con- 

 sciousness when we speak of "tropical effects" or "tropical charm." 



THE LARGE LEAF EFFECT 



Undoubtedly one important element is the gigantic individual 

 leaf. The conventional way of getting this effect is to set out 

 banana plants, which are generally torn to shreds by a storm. 



The most wonderful hardy plant of this type in England is 

 the Gunnera, a water side plant with leaves often six feet across 

 and sometimes ten. (See plate 97.) A New Jersey nurseryman 

 claims that is it hardy with protection as far north as New York, 

 but I doubt if it will ever thrive north of Virginia. The nearest 

 we can get to it is Rheum Collinianum, which is the least like a 

 rhubarb of all the many species I saw at Kew and elsewhere. 



The grandest hardy trees with big leaves is Magnolia mac- 

 rophylla, which has leaves a yard long and flowers a foot across. 

 Long Island is about the limit of its hardiness. 



The catalpa, paw paw, and empress tree, or Paulownia, have 

 a tropical appearance, and their leaves are about a foot across. 

 The gardeners have a trick of growing Paulownias in a formal bed 

 and cutting them down every year, by which plan they get the 

 biggest leaves. This seems to me a poor kind of beauty compared 

 with the grand trees one sees at Flushing, L. I., especially 

 when they are covered with their royal flowers. The bedding 

 system sacrifices all the bloom. 



Among perennial herbs with huge leaves are the two species 

 of Petasites pictured on plate 106 one of which has leaves 



