54 GARDEN" ORNAMENTS 



found a plenty climbing over every shrub and tree 

 down to the waters very edge. I think in all the 

 world there is not the like in abundance." 



Among the earliest settlers, came a colony of 

 Spaniards choosing for their home the sunny 

 shores of Florida. Here in the heart of the wood- 

 land they made clearings, laying out extensive 

 grounds that followed no set plan, but with sem- 

 blance of the old-world garden. Here they planted 

 for coolness and shade, vines and trees, laid out 

 their grounds with walks, paved like mosaic with 

 vari-colored stones. In these gardens no semi- 

 tropical plants, such as abounded on every side, 

 were planted. It has always been man's way when 

 warring with the wilderness that lay beyond his 

 door, to gather into the enclosure flowers and 

 plants that had been dear to his heart in his far- 

 away native land, to re-establish the atmosphere of 

 his old home in new surroundings. 



The colonists who settled on the southern shores 

 of Virginia, were men of rank, wealthy men, who 

 had left stately homes to settle in this unknown 

 land. In the lay-out of their gardens they intro- 

 duced the Elizabethean style of floriculture, fol- 

 lowing the fashion of the English gardens of that 



