LATH HOUSE AT POINT LOMA, CAL. 



Built in the form of a Greek cross, it has a special kind of soil in 

 each of the four wings for the growing of different types of plants 



TEMPERING THE SUNSHINE 



ELOISE ROORBACH 

 Substituting the Lath House for the Greenhouse in the Californian Country Where Shade is at a Premium 



ARDEN MAKERS of Southern California frolic from 

 one year's end to another with the most recklessly 

 gay and brilliantly bedecked of known flowers. Their 

 gardens fairly dazzle the eye and certainly astonish 

 the visitors who can not believe the testimony of their senses 

 when they see Geranium hedges which put fire to shame; 

 Marigolds that checkmate the sun; and Heliotrope that so far 

 forgets its conservative habits that it climbs entirely over a 

 house, dragging a cloud of purple fragrance with it. These 

 garden enthusiasts have walked or motored out to their own 

 sunny hills, have taken ship to the tropics in search of trees, 

 shrubs, plants, and vines which will thrive beneath the untem- 

 pered rays of their ardent sun, and then set these blazing things 

 against a white wall or massed them in beds until even their 

 intemperate joy of color has, at last, been satisfied. 



Giant size, novelty of species, and brilliance having been 

 achieved, attention has recently been focusing upon choice and 

 lovely plants which shun the sun and love only the cool, moist 

 shade of forests. So means have been devised to simulate the 

 shifting light and shade, to imitate the aerated leaf-mold floor, 

 and to create the draftless, cool atmosphere of the woods, in an 

 adequate and charming way. Hence the lath house, a struc- 

 ture sometimes resembling a pergola, through which the visitor 

 walks on stepping-stone paths, beneath the subdued light of 

 flowering vines, between running brooks, fern banks, and all 

 sorts of sylvan surprises. Sometimes it is more like a summer 

 house, made perhaps in the form of a square, cross, octagon, or 

 circle, with a pool in the centre or a stand of giant Tree-ferns 

 or tree-like Begonias, baskets of Moss hanging about, wall 

 pockets holding swinging sprays of Butterfly-orchids, and tropi- 

 cal vines rioting up the supports. Such a place furnishes dra- 

 matic contrast and a delightful foil to the blazing brilliance 



without. Occasionally it is found in the form of a lean-to 

 against the house, making a pleasant sort of outdoor dining 

 room and place to serve tea. 



But no matter what its form, the lath house is always knit 

 into the garden by the vines seething over it and by Ferns and 

 Begonia blooms that peep out in friendly fashion from within. 

 Unfortunately these houses are not always designed by architects 

 who understand how to make a structure beautiful through 

 fine proportion, and therefore are sometimes unsightly from 

 the outside, unless redeemed by vines. 



QUITE often a lath house will grow to a vast size from some 

 small beginning, perhaps a pergola, developing a wing 

 * on each side, as the leisure and enthusiasm of the owner 

 permits, until the entire yard will be under cover, with only a 

 space in the centre for a blaze of the sun-loving plants. The W. 

 L. Frevert lath house, San Diego, has grown in this way until it 

 now affords vaulted shelter for Tree-ferns, a Fern edged pool, a 

 rocky bed for Columbines, etc. At one end of the grounds is a 

 greenhouse in which seedlings are nursed and plants grown which 

 like a hotter atmosphere than that furnished by the lath house. 

 Here are full sun, shade of lath house, and warmth of conserva- 

 tory, all in the space of a city back yard. Bamboo furnishes a 

 background for the lath house, the sides of which toward the 

 centre are provided with slat curtains that can be raised or 

 lowered as needed. 



The A. D. Robinson lath house, at Point Loma, a large struc- 

 ture designed by an architect who understood the importance 

 of good proportion, takes the form of a huge square with the 

 centre raised in a rounded dome — much the shape of the con- 

 ventional conservatory. Beneath this dome is space for 

 chairs, tables, hammocks. All about is a circle of Ferns grow. 



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