The Garden Magazine, December, 1921 



197 



usually intensified in the warmer 

 Eastern fall climate. 



New shades are being originated 

 every season which simply defy any 

 color chart when it comes to describing 

 them. Every shade under the sun, but 

 blue, seems to have been developed and 

 yet there is always some new combina- 

 tion of shades in the seedling patches. 



PERHAPS the most appreciative 

 compliment that Dahlias from this 

 state have received was last spring, 

 when the catalogue of Henry A. Dreer, 

 Inc. among its eight select American 

 Dahlias of recent introduction, listed 

 six from California ! And conservative 

 England is cataloguing Western 

 Dahlias ! There are so many excellent 

 varieties of California being grown all 

 over the United States that one hesi- 

 tates to prepare a list, and I prefer to 

 give the names of some of the leading 

 introducers as follows: J. J. Broomall, 

 of Eagle Rock, Los Angeles; F. C. 

 Burns and Richard Lohrmann of San 

 Rafael; Mrs. Jessie L. Seal, Miss Aimee 

 Hodgens, Frank D. Pelicano, Mrs. W. 

 E. Estes, and Robt. McWhirter of San 

 Francisco; Carl Salbach of Oakland; 

 Leslie E. Doolittle of Del Monte; Mrs. 

 Edna Spencer of Alameda; and Bessie 

 Boston of San Mateo. 



As has been said before, the growing 

 season is exceedingly long, so the roots 

 have time to ripen thoroughly before 

 being dug. The storage of the clumps 

 in this mild climate is simple. They 

 are safe from frost as long as they are 

 under some rough shelter. 



IN CLOSING I can't resist telling the 

 I story of the most unusual Dahlia 

 patch in the world — "The Garden 

 Beautiful " of San Quentin prison. This 

 is the prisoners' garden in a state peni- 

 tentiary located near San Francisco. 

 All flowers are grown there successfully 

 in their season. Ugly stone and mortar 

 walls are hidden by climbing Roses — 

 but the favorite flower is the Dahlia. 

 They grow it so wonderfully at San 

 Quentin that their table at the Dahlia 

 show is always the centre of at- 

 traction. 



The Garden Beautiful was the idea 

 of a prisoner, Pat Tyrone, as he was 

 nicknamed, who is now free to enjoy 

 the flowers outside. His name has 

 been adopted for every head gardener, 

 Roman numerals being added, so Pat 

 Tyrone 1 1 1 is now directing this unique 

 garden. Every plant grown has been 

 donated by flower lovers. The mem- 

 bers of the Dahlia Society of California 

 each year send a gift box of their best 

 and newest, and last spring an appeal 

 was made to the American Dahlia 

 Society members, who responded lib- 

 erally. 



All the donors are enrolled in the 

 Abou ben Adhem Club and receive a 

 Christmas greeting from Patrick Ty- 

 rone. The hopes of everybody, inside 

 and outside, interested in The Garden 

 Beautiful are that this big idea may 

 become universal and in time the 

 softening influence of flowers will be 

 felt in all prisons throughout the 

 country. 



ON A CALIFORNIA DAHLIA FARM 



Such luxuriance of bloom meets 

 the eye even up to Christmas! 



THE GARDEN BEAUTIFUL WITHIN PRISON WALLS 



;HEN "Pat" Tyrone came to San Quentin, he found a 

 sordid sort of a courtyard. Being an educated man, 

 he realized the need of keeping active; he knew the 

 elevating influence of the beautiful, the depressing 

 effect of sordidness. Pat set out to solve the problem in a 

 practical way. Thus we come by this story of a man's faith in 

 an idea, a faith that removed mountains of obstacles and cen- 

 turies of prejudice. 



This was in the days when the world was held in the sway of 

 the Great War. Food production was the paramount issue. 

 Here was Pat's opportunity. The soil was there; combined 

 with seeds, spare time and California's ideal climate, it was 

 bound to do its share to feed the world. And so a patch of 

 Cabbage and rows of Carrots, Lettuce and Beans, besides a 



few, very few, flowers sprang into existence within the walls of 

 San Quentin prison near San Francisco. 



Strange to say, their arrival marked an amazing change in 

 the mental attitude of many prisoners. Pat, who by that time 

 had earned the title of " Headgardener to the Inmates," had 

 more applications for help than he had vacancies to be filled. 



The end of the war brought a gradual change from interest 

 in vegetable gardening to the greater desire to create a beautiful 

 garden. Pat continued to scheme, and so was born The Gar- 

 den Beautiful Idea, an idea that has since won the approval 

 of every official of the state of California and has made San 

 Quentin a model of its kind, where men have a chance to work 

 out their own salvation under conditions creditable to enlight- 

 ened civilization. 



