^ THE GARDEN BOOK OF CALIFORNIA 



Sometimes I think these owners of the tiny town gardens, 

 or even of only a window garden, get much of the real joy 

 of the cultivation of plants, and I frequently run across the 

 owner of a few tiny pots and boxes of plants, which he is 

 cherishing in among brick walls, who has more actual posses- 

 sion in the way of plant lore, and real love for nature study 

 — and that in itself is riches — than many a more favored 

 man with wide fields and all the freedom and opportunities 

 of country life. 



Wistarias are especially suitable to the sheltered places 

 of our city gardens. The genus Solarium has contributed 

 three excellent species, the best of which is Solarium rvend- 

 landii which when blooming is very magnificent. Solarium 

 seaforthium is an excellent bloomer, while a beautiful white 

 variety is Solarium jasminoides which much resembles the 

 jasmines at a distance. 



Most vines, speaking in a very general way, need strong 

 nourishing soil and plenty of water. There are, however, 

 notable exceptions. Here in California where there is so 

 much of broken land and side hill slopes, it is often desirable 

 to use a vine of trailing habits. A family of great use, par- 

 ticularly in the dry places of the Southland, is that of the 

 mesembryanthemum. Of trailing habits, these plants are 

 easily propagated from cuttings, and are enduring even in 

 extreme heat. Most of the four hundred or so species of 

 this genus have been introduced to us from the Cape of 

 Good Hope, even those which we term native and which 

 are found near the seacoast throughout California, namely, 



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