180 



The Garden Magazine, December, 1921 



WHAT THREE YEARS WILL DO FOR THE MONTEREY CYPRESS 



Only eighteen inches high when set out in 1918, the Cy- 

 press hedge bordering the garden path is already ten feet 



all colors grow without care, as do the blue 

 Agapanthus and our Day-lilies. Watsonia 

 grows tall and stately, putting to shame the 

 efforts of our greenhouse in the East; Dahlias 

 of the finest quality and type; and Chrysan- 

 themums. Roses! Roses! Roses! the newest 

 colors for cutting, the greatest bushes of 

 old types still too lovely and unsurpassed; 

 the indefatigable climbers fairly smothering 

 little bungalows beneath their glory! 



Shrubs like Bridal-wreath and Plumbago, 

 Oleander and Choisya, grow to perfection. 

 Ground covers — Myrtle (Vinca) and English 

 Ivy, interesting Japanese Ivy — Camellias 

 (in the shade) unreal in their beauty, but 

 odorless; Hibiscus, and so on, in endless 

 procession. A few have whims, but all can 

 be persuaded, and therein lies the soul of the 

 garden. 



1 am so often asked if the flowers in Cali- 

 fornia smell as sweet as they do with us, and 

 frankly I must say that 1 see no difference. 

 Naturally California has many more flowers 

 with perfume than are found in our gar- 

 dens. The Heliotrope which climbs to the 

 second story of our house, to my judgment, 

 is quite as fragrant as any 1 have ever 

 known. In winter mornings the perfume 

 of the yellow Roses climbing upward with 

 the masses of Heliotrope adds another 



factor, for all other conditions appear more or less 

 subject to control, pruning and watering being chief 

 considerations. 



How wonderful to have our Silver Moon Roses 

 bloom in September instead of June, as we do in Cali- 

 fornia! In the patio four vines are planted — in the 

 right-hand sunny corner, a soft, brick-red Bougain- 

 villea which was in bloom last year from November 

 to March; and Bignonia Tweediana, a lemon yellow, 

 in flower from April to June; at the left, or shady 

 corner, a Jasmine and a blue Kennedyia Comptoniana. 



At first one is puzzled by the vagaries of various 

 flowers and plants in regard to their season of bloom, 

 but these vagaries are always accounted for when the 

 answer is made to the question: "When did the rain 

 commence?" This question may also read: "When 

 did the gardener prune and water?" In California, 

 intelligent gardening has boundless possibilities and 

 corresponding delights, for the year has twelve grow- 

 ing months, and one is fairly astonished by the results 

 of two or three years. For example, the Monterey 

 Cypress hedges along the garden path are ten feet 

 high, and were set out in the summer of 1918 — little 

 plants only eighteen inches tall, a result which an 

 Eastern gardener could only achieve in so short a time 

 by the planting of old, fully grown material — an ex- 

 pensive and difficult feat. 



My gardening experience in California is that of 

 only four winter seasons, but enough to make me 

 know what an immense book remains still unopened. 



Delphiniums are beautiful; great beds of colored 

 Freesias can be naturalized under the Oaks; Tulips 

 may be had in perfection; Clarkia and many of the 

 annuals self-sow, some to the degree of being a nui- 

 sance. Iris germanica is very beautiful and an Italian 

 form blooms practically every month in the year; the Japanese 

 Iris grows to superb size in the water; Callas flourish in 

 masses without either water or care; the Elliottiana dies 

 down in the fall and appears again in the spring. Amaryllis of 



BUILT TO WITHSTAND DROUGHT 



Using Drought-resistant shrubs as a "backbone" and filling 

 in with very much the same material as used in the East- 

 ern summer garden maintains a continuously rich effect 



delight to this bouquet, a delight ended only when one 

 falls asleep at night with the odor of Violets and the scent 

 of the Orange and Lemon blossoms from the orchard blowing 

 in through the open windows. 



