THE 



NATURE-STUDY REVIEW 



Vol. i 6 May, 1920 No. 5 



The Springtime Garden in California 



Douglas Houghton Campbell 

 Professor of Botany, Stanford University 



The Easterner transplanted to California, finds it at first rather 

 hard to adjust himself to the seasonal changes which are so dif- 

 ferent from those to which he is accustomed. In California the 

 all-controlling factor is rain, For several months, generally 

 speaking from May to October, practically no rain falls, and plants 

 which are not specially adapted to withstand this long drouth 

 must perish. 



The grass in the hills is dried into natural hay, and the gay 

 annuals which painted the meadows and hillsides, in spring, with 

 great masses of vivid color, have ripened their seeds and died. 

 Herbaceous perennials have gone to rest until awakened by the 

 first Fall rains, and except for the trees and shrubs, there is little 

 verdure to be seen, and the summer landscape has a very different 

 aspect from that of the Atlantic States. 



Just as soon, however, as the first rains of Autumn fall, there is 

 a quick change. Sometimes, if the first rain is fairly heavy, 

 within forty-eight hours one can find millions of little seedlings 

 sprouting in the low places where the water has settled, and in a few 

 days a film of tender green spreads over the ground, which deepens 

 in tint as the days go by, and advances up the hillsides, which are 

 soon covered with a dense growth of grass and many sorts of plants 

 which bye and bye will be covered with masses of brilliant flowers. 



Usually the first good rains come in October, at which time 

 we may say spring begins, to last through the winter months, and 

 finish with the last showers in April or May. There is rarely cold 

 enough to stop the growth of hardy plants, even in midwinter 

 and our gardens are pretty well stocked with flowers all through 

 the winter. Sometimes there is not enough frost to damage 

 even such tender plants as heliotrope and nasturtiums; and in 



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