THE LANDSCAPE BEAUTIFUL 



had a peculiar gift which is everywhere 

 recognized as one of his distinguishing 

 characteristics. It will be readily seen that 

 this faculty was closely associated with 

 his appreciation of natural scenery men- 

 tioned above. 



4. He discovered the native flora. 

 Though artistically less important than 

 other contributions of Olmsted, this was 

 the most revolutionary of his innovations. 

 Downing was a collector of plants, with 

 a fondness for what was rare and exotic. 

 Gardeners everywhere were planting Japa- 

 nese magnolias, purple beeches and Cam- 

 perdown elms. Olmsted turned boldly, and 

 not without violent opposition, to the 

 commonest roadside shrubs. He adopted 

 the outcast weeds. Peter after his vision 

 could not have been more completely con- 

 verted to what had previously been thought 

 unclean. Up to this time, strange as it 

 may seem, American plants had been more 

 used in Europe than here. With the 

 richest indigenous flora of any country in 

 the world, we were still planting the 

 species and varieties of European nurseries. 

 We may remark further that this use of 

 the native flora was the one Olmstedian 



164 



