January io, 1894.] 



Garden and Forest. 



13 



Native Plants for Florida Gardens. 



THE hummock woods and swamps of Florida are rich 

 in ornamental trees and shrubs, and the sandy Pine- 

 lands and flat-woods are rich in perennial and herbaceous 

 plants. The beauty of the evergreen leaves and large 

 flowers of the Magnolias, the delicious perfume of the 

 Carolina Jessamine, the penetrating odor of the Spider 

 Lily, all growing in the rich black soil on the edges of the 

 lakes ; the singular beauty of Holly, Icacorca paniculata, 

 Myrsine Floridana and Cherry Laurel, the stateliness of the 

 Loblolly Bay, the grandeur of the Live Oaks, the tropical 

 picturesqueness of the Palmettos, always bring delight to 

 any visitor here who loves nature. All of these and many 

 other plants grow easily on dry Pine-land in Florida if 

 transplanted from the hummock woods ; but, as a rule, we 

 see nothing but Orange-trees and white sand around the 

 houses of the settlers. Nobody seems to think that there 

 is abundant material for ornamental planting so close at 

 hand. Now and then we see an Oleander, a Gardenia or 

 a Hibiscus, or a few clumps of Crinums, which are invaria- 

 bly called Lilies, but very few native trees, shrubs or her- 

 baceous plants. Settlers from the north often attempt to 

 grow their old garden favorites, but the Snowballs and 

 Lilacs, Bush Honeysuckles and Spiroeas, the Hollyhock 

 and Pasonies generally fail, although the ordinary Phila- 

 delphus usually grows well. 



Such native trees as the Magnolia, Gordonia, Live Oak 

 and Red Bay, Holly and many others which love rich moist 

 soil will grow well on the sterile Pine-land when care is 

 taken to plant them properly and fertilize and water them 

 afterward for a time when necessary. The instructions 

 which I can give on this point I received originally from 

 Mr. Walter N. Pike, who has derived them from actual ex- 

 perience, and since then I have proved their value by 

 personal trial. The earlier the plants are obtained in 

 winter the better, and some commercial fertilizer will 

 always be beneficial in helping them to start. Even a few 

 shovelfuls of hummock-soil, mixed with the ordinary sand 

 and placed about the roots, will be found very useful, since 

 a great deal depends on their first growth. Heavy mulch- 

 ing should never be neglected in Florida about newly 

 transplanted plants, not only for immediate effect, but for 

 carrying them through the drought, since the mulch not 

 only arrests the escape of moisture, but keeps the soil cool. 

 Of course, newly set trees and shrubs should be watered 

 well and the soil should be trodden firmly about the roots. 

 It is always best to have a rim of soil raised about the trees 

 with a hoe, so that they set in a saucer-like depression 

 from four to six feet in diameter, and this circle should be 

 at once covered with mulch, and the mulch should be 

 weighted down. The roots are then in damp, cool soil, 

 beyond the baking power of the sun's rays when the dry 

 season comes. If the tree then droops, two or three pails 

 of water must be poured into this depression, and each pail- 

 ful should be allowed to soak away before another is added. 

 Some exotics, like Michelia fuscata and Thea Bohea, are 

 benefited if a little clay is mixed with the soil about the 

 roots, and perhaps the same would be true of many native 

 plants, but Magnolia fcetida grows like a weed when trans- 

 planted to high Pine-land, and so does the Holly, Ilex 

 opaca, when lifted from the hummock to a hungry soil of 

 sand. 



It is small trouble to collect these trees, and with a sin- 

 gle companion I once collected in one day in the latter 

 part of October most of the trees and shrubs which I shall 

 now name as desirable ones. Andromeda nitida is a sin- 

 gularly elegant shrub, found in peaty soil near the water. 

 It grows five or six feet high, has thick, shining fragrant 

 leaves, and in April is covered with pendulous clusters of 

 white and fragrant blossoms hanging from the axils of the 

 leaves. The nearly allied Leucothoe racemosa is found 

 in similar locations and grows to a height of ten feet. Its 

 dense racemes of twenty to thirty white bell-like flowers ap- 

 pear early on the naked branches. These plants were removed 



with balls of soil about the roots and transplanted to the 

 edge of a small lake. Native Ferns were planted among 

 them and other species of Andromeda. I had not yet 

 learned the necessity of mulching, and every one died, al- 

 though I have since had success with these and other 

 plants of the Heath family. Trees of Magnolia fcetida, 

 owing to their lack of fibrous roots, are difficult to trans- 

 plant, but I obtained a few of these and they are now all 

 growing well. All the Magnolias are easily raised from 

 seeds and make a rapid growth on high, poor Pine-land if 

 a little fertilizer is worked about them. Four years from 

 the seed they will be specimens ten feet high, making a 

 solid mass of lustrous foliage to the ground, and I have 

 seen trees of that size which flowered freely. The Loblolly 

 Bay needs the same treatment. Myrsine Floridana is a small 

 broad-leaved evergreen tree, which, like the Holly, Lob- 

 lolly Bay and Magnolias, never shows its full beauty in the 

 woods where it lives in a constant struggle with coarser 

 trees. When planted alone, however, it makes a conspic- 

 uously beautiful object, having a perfect form and very 

 dense foliage. Magnolia glauca, which is almost as desir- 

 able as the Big Bay, will thrive under the same treatment. 

 The Silver Bush, Leucophyllum Texanum (see Garden ami 

 Forest, vol. hi., p. 48S), is one of the most conspicuous ob- 

 jects on my grounds. I have seen this shrub growing 

 abundantly in western Texas on dry and barren soil as a 

 spreading shrub five to ten feet high and flowering at in- 

 tervals from May to October after every heavy shower. 

 These thimble-shaped, rosy flowers, when seen among the 

 woolly leaves of an ashy-gray color, are exceptionally beau- 

 tiful. It transplants readily and can be cut to any desired 

 form. 



Many other native trees should find a place in even- 

 Florida garden. The sweet leaved Symplocos tinctoria 

 is one of the prettiest small evergreen trees of the 

 south. Ilex Dahoon is a beautiful evergreen shrub. The 

 Wax Myrtle, Myrica cerifera, here is another evergreen 

 which is very pretty and interesting. The American 

 Olive, Osmanthus Americanus, a beautiful southern forest- 

 tree, which attains a fine form, and is densely covered with 

 foliage when planted in the garden. The Sea Grapes, the 

 common name for two species of Coccoloba, are also de- 

 sirable broad-leaved evergreens, while the Virginia Fringe- 

 tree, the Flowering Dogwood, Itea Virginica, Calicanthus 

 floridus, the Palmetto and many more could be used 

 to make a garden of native plants in Florida a most interest- 

 ing and delightful spot. 



Milwaukee, Wis. 



H. Nehrling. 



Plant Notes. 

 The Cocoanut-tree. 



ON page 1 5 of this issue a photograph of a garden in Key 

 West, shaded by a grove of Cocoanut-trees, is repro- 

 duced. This Palm does notgrow spontaneously on Key West 

 or on any of the other Florida islands, as the violent north 

 winds which often prevail in winter reduce the temperature 

 of southern Florida too low for this heat-loving tree, al- 

 though when planted and cared for while young it grows to 

 a moderate size on the keys, and sometimes bears fruit : 

 otherwise the nuts which are cast upon those shores by 

 the Gulf Stream would have produced plants that would 

 gradually have covered them, for it is in this way that the 

 Cocoanut has been able gradually to spread over all the 

 sandy coral shores of the tropics of the two worlds. The 

 place of its first home is uncertain. It was believed by the 

 younger Candolle to have first appeared on some of the 

 islands of the Indian Archipelago, whence it was carried 

 either by ocean currents or by man to the southern 

 of Asia, east tropical Africa, and to the islands and shores 

 of Pacific tropical America. Undoubtedly it was brought by 

 man to the West Indies and Brazil after the discovery of 

 America by Europeans, although it has now so sp 

 through the action of ocean currents or by the ag 



