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May 11, 1922 



The Florists^ Review 



27 



cently introduced varieties of the 

 giant-caned type. These are more at- 

 tractive than the common bamboo, as 

 the canes are larger and grow more 

 compactly, thus overcoming the one 

 fault of the older form — the loose, 

 scraggly appearance at maturity. 



What the Visitor May See. 



When the visitor enters the grounds 

 he is at once impressed with the tropical 

 aspect of the planting around the office, 

 consisting of great clumps of bamboo, 

 thirty feet or more in height, tall cab- 

 bage palms with swaying fronds, the 

 graceful Acrocomia Total", a palm from 

 South America, and the stately Phoenix 

 canariensis. 



Here you reach for a bloom that is 

 entirely different from any of those you 

 are acquainted with. The flower is that 

 of the Bauhinia purpurea and closely 

 resembles the aristocratic orchid, ex- 

 cept that it grows on a shrub or small 

 tree; the colors include lavender, pur- 

 ple, mauve and pure white. 



Screening the packing house from 

 the grounds are three splendid speci- 

 mens of the Chinese cinnamon tree, 

 while nearby is a tree from Brazil that 

 carries the name of Schinus terebinthi- 

 folius. In spite of the long name, the 

 tree grows to a height of fifty feet or 

 more, with wide-spreading limbs; it 

 flowers in midsummer and carries bright 

 scarlet berries until the following 

 spring. * 



Chinese hibiscus, particularly the 

 double scarlet, and the dainty peach- 

 blow, with pale pink flowers, add a 

 touch of color here and there. 



But what is that great mass of pur- 

 ple, and that long spray of glowing 

 crimson? Paper flowers, or Bougainvillea 

 glabra Sanderiana and Crimson Lake, 

 two of the most brilliant and valuable 

 vines for the south. Bougainvilleas are 

 grown in quantities at Oneco. A per- 

 son who only knows the old B. glabra 

 Sanderiana will be startled and 

 charmed by the newer colors in this 

 climber. You can find shades from deli- 

 cate piiik to deep purple, brick red, 

 lake, crimson and others. Some of these 

 were produced at the Royal Palm Nurs- 

 eries and it is not too much to say that 

 some of the most charming color ef- 

 fects come from these varieties. 



Over there is a rubber tree — thick 

 shiny leaves; strong, heavy trunk, big 

 enough for a husky boy to climb, and 

 a long way removed from the one, two 

 or three-leaved, scraggly plant so often 

 used for house decorations in northern 

 homes. 



Do you know the chenille plant, 

 Acalypha hispidaf No, you do not, un- 

 less you have seen it in south Florida 

 — trunk, two or three inches thick, 

 twelve feet high; the rich crimson 

 "chenille" blooms, eighteen inches to 

 two feet long, are carried all the year. 



Slats and Glass for Shelter. 



Much of the propagating work is 

 done under Jath or slat Juuises. Thes« 

 shade the cuttings or seedlings from 

 the sun and give ample protection from 

 frost, unless it be exceptionally cold — 

 eay, around 25 degrees. Then a wood 

 fire is started in little sheet-iron stoves 

 set in the passageways. Imagine it, 

 you frozen-up northerners; heating an 

 open slat house with stoves not over 

 eighteen inches square. 



The lath house method gives much 

 stronger, sturdier plants than those 

 grown under glass, a fact that must be 



Some Types of Dahlias Are Particularly Useful for Baskets. 



considered when growing tropical or 

 semitropical plants for Florida. 



To the northern grower, who must 

 depend on glass houses, heating equip- 

 ment, coal piles and coal bills to get his 

 plants safely through their baby days, 

 the methods at Oneco are a surprise 

 and wonder. Of course, there are glass 

 houses; at least, they have glass on 

 top. But the sides are not tightly 

 closed, and if a careless employee or 

 visitor leaves a door open it doesn't 

 mean chilled and killed plants. Inci- 

 dentally, the heating equipment would 

 not go far toward warming a 6-room 

 northern dwelling. 



Palms are probably emphasized more 

 than any other one genus at Oneco. 

 One author has said that they are "the 

 princes of the vegetable kingdom," 

 and a visitor to the Royal Palm Nurs- 

 eries certainly meets the whole royal 

 family — the king and queen, as well as 

 the princes. They are seen on every 

 hand, from the tiny shoot just pushing 

 its way through the seed bed to the 

 lovely specimen twenty-five feet or 

 more in height. One cannot appreciate 

 the beanty of a palm tree until he sees 

 it growing in the open spaces, rising 

 like a slender tower against the deep 

 blue of the sky. Here it is a part of 

 the landscape, almost the keystone of 

 nature's plan. Sabal palmettos are 

 used as street trees in many towns and 

 some cities, but the trained landscape 

 man, and the nature lover who appre- 

 ciates palms, feel that such a practice 

 is not entirely appropriate. 



One large house contained a goodly 

 number of crotons, which were admired 



by several lady visitors. "Will you 

 please tell me the name of this va- 

 riety?" asked one of the ladies. "Cro- 

 ton picturatuiu," replied Mr. Cook. 

 Thoughtful pause for a minute. "Pic- 

 ture of Adam, did you say I Well, I 

 never heard such a funny name as 

 that!" 



Probably the lady would have found 

 other names equally "funny," if she 

 had traveled farther through the 

 houses and across the fields, for in the 

 open, under slat sheds, and in green- 

 houses are hundreds of interesting speci- 

 mens of Florida 's native plants, rare 

 subjects from foreign countries, and 

 new varieties that have been hybrid- 

 ized and propagated at Oneco. The 

 rambler wonders how many florists 

 know that the popular and valuable 

 Asparagus Sprengeri was propagated in 

 quantity and first introduced by the 

 firm of Reasoner Bros. 



The Chinese fan palm, known in 

 colder climates solely as a house plant, 

 is propagated under slats. In the open 

 ground of the nurserj* it takes on a 

 stout trunk, while some of the older 

 specimens have broad foliage, four feet 

 or more across. 



One of the prettiest palms in the col- 

 lection is the silver thatch, Thrinax 

 inicrocarpa. It is dwarf in habit and 

 grows well in the shrub border. Be- 

 cause of the silvery sheen on the under 

 side of the leaf, it is often used beside 

 a pool where not otherwise seen. 



Hedge Plants. 



In the blocks given to hedge plants 

 the visitor sees Amoor River privet, 



