22 Plants in Bloom in the 



Art. V. Plants in Bloom^ in the Garden of C. L. Bell, 

 Esq., in the vicinity of New Orleans, in November, 1845^ 

 By J. W. Paulsen. 



I SEND you the following brief account of a few plants I 

 saw on my arrival, the fifth of November, in bloom, in the 

 garden of Charles L. Bell, Esq., at Lake Pontchartrain, in 

 the vicinity of New Orleans city. I think it may possibly 

 prove interesting to a number of your northern readers. 



I found the weather, at my arrival, very warm and per- 

 fectly delightful — a beautiful Italian sky, and almost no 

 wind. Mr. Bell's garden presented to me very much the 

 appearance of a vast conservatory, studded with West India 

 plants, growing in the greatest profusion. Great numbers of 

 tree-like oleanders, eugenias, jasmines, pomegranates, and 

 myrtles, with their dark, sombre foliage, gave a stateliness 

 and grandeur to the scenery, while their blossoms spread a 

 delicious fragrance around, and their branches afibrd shelter 

 to the mocking-bird. The contrast of these dark evergreens 

 with beds of bright and dazzhng flowers beneath, proved to 

 my northern eyes pleasing and unique in the extreme. 



The following I noticed in flower: — Tecoma capensis, 

 some large specimens, covered with their gorgeous flowers 

 and growing most luxuriantly ; Mr. Bell informed me, they 

 had proved hardy the last two winters. Datw^a arborea, 

 covered with its fragrant flowers, is quite hardy here ; JHihis- 

 cus rosa sinensis, all the varieties made a splendid show, 

 and stood out the last two winters. I cannot help remark- 

 ing here, that it is a great pity, this splendid flowering, half 

 hardy Chinese shrub, so easily propagated and procured by 

 every florist, is not more extensively cultivated in the gardens 

 of the north. From my own experience 1 can assert, that, 

 treated perfectly hardy, planted out in Spring, in an open 

 border, and taken up and sheltered in the fall, in a cold pit 

 or cellar, it will flower abundantly during the Summer. 

 Jasminum revolutum, sambac fl. pi. grandiflorum and multi- 

 florum, some very large and fine specimens, /asminum 

 multiflorum, covered with its large, fragrant white blossoms, 



