T HE GARDEN BOOK OF CALIFORNIA 



are at least thirty varieties of agaves known to California 

 growers, every garden should have some of the best of these. 



The yucca family have been popular the world over and 

 are nearly all Americans, many being natives of Peru, 

 though all the South American States have species. In 

 Southern California are a number of handsome natives, 

 known widely among florists in European countries as well 

 as our own. Our yucca, Yucca arborescens, is found on the 

 Colorado and Mojave deserts. I fancy that the average 

 Yankee would find it difficult to recognize it as a tree, but 

 as a tree it is catalogued the world over. My own first sight 

 of Yucca arborescens was on a moonlight night crossing the 

 edge of the desert, when possessed by wakefulness I gazed 

 out over the dreary moonlit waste, and listened to the creak- 

 ing of the sands on the wheels of the car when my eye was 

 caught by a vision of graceful foliage, and I instantly recog- 

 nized the yucca, heretofore seen only in the hot-house. 

 Yucca baccata is another native variety which improves with 

 cultivation. Its edible fruit is sweet and very like a banana. 

 Yucca gigantea is a very tall and handsome Guatemalan 

 of a graceful drooping habit, while Yucca ivhippleii is 

 another native with very beautiful blossoms, and picturesque 

 foliage. 



For borders and ground-work among the cacti I know of 

 nothing better than mesembryanthemums, echeverias, and 

 sedums. The echeverias are fleshy-leaved plants of much 

 attractiveness and very useful as border plants. 



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