fl Charming V ENT *J Rft Garden. 



MKS. SHEPHERD'S SPLENDID FLORAL TREASURES 

 IN VENTURA. 



iOVELY Hedge of Fragrant Blossoms in Profusion — Magnificent Masses of 

 Beautiful Flowers — Heliotrope Free to All— Gardens 

 Within Gardens — Very Rare Plants. 



lose to the Hotel Rose in Ventura, on a gen- 

 slope within full sight of the Pacific and but 

 _>ur blocks from the beach, there is a beautiful 

 garden which attracts the attention of every new 

 comer, and is a constant delight to the residents. 

 This garden, or series of gardens, for there is 

 not one but many, is not merely a rare and love- 

 ly picture to gladden the eye, but represents an 

 original and important enterprise, conceived 

 and planned by a woman and already reaping a 

 substantial success. Eight years ago Mrs. Theo- 

 dosia B. Shepherd began her career as a profess- 

 ional seed and bulb grower. A representative of 

 the Express, who lately visited her place, found 

 that the increase in her business has compelled 

 her to put eight acres utder cultivation. In or- 

 der to secure an abundance of water and conven- 

 ient location, she has rented lots all over town, 

 with three acres in the valley a little beyond the 

 city limits. The original home garden, which 

 was the nuclei s of of the whole plantation, con- 

 sists of two and a quarter acres, forming an ir- 

 regular lot in the block where the Shepherd's 

 home is situated. Two hundred feet of this 

 ronts main street, and a description of the 

 edge of helioteope, which separates it from the 

 oreet, was published in the Ventura Unit of Sep- 

 mber 24, and runs as follows: 



A HELIOTROPE HEDGE. 



ne of the most attractive objects in Ventura 

 he 200 feet of heliotrope heelge which faces 

 n street in the gardens of Mrs. Thoedosia B. 

 oherd. The wide cement walk is three feet 

 w the garden. On the bank above low posts 

 placed and wire stretched across to sup- 

 small plants of heliotrope, which were put 

 ve yrars ago. Now they droop clown to the 

 and stand six feet above it, charming and 

 tnt masses of purple, lavender and white. 

 he year the purple glory of color and per- 

 attracts the humming birds, butterflies 

 ees. Children in groups daily fill both 

 gentlemen in passing catch a spray for a 

 miere and ladies for corsage bouquets, 

 my a delighted tourist has gathered its 

 i and raved over its beauty. As Mrs. 

 •^d says, "it belongs to the town." 

 peek the heliotrope has been cut, the long 

 ? branches trimmed and the ripe seed 

 . The broad walk for a day ond a half 

 ^ene of much activity. Three men with 

 • shpars, rakes, brooms and shovels were 

 raking, sweeping and sifting. 

 ; of the work— a wagon load of trim- 

 a dozen whepibarrow loads of dead helio- 

 ieaves and flowers for leaf mould, and 

 ■five pounds of good firm heliotrope 

 fet in a week or two the hedge will be 

 ( than ever. It requires trimming from 

 four times a year. 



HOW THE GARDEN LOOKS. 



<! is a n~at office at the entrance to the 



, and the visitor passes up through an 



of p^-pp^r trees, whose graceful, fern- 



iage is trimm-d to the crown, and droop - 



re forms a perfect arch. Prilliant ger- 



5 line the path-, and the effect of their 



coloring under the pale-green arch is inele- 



ble. Mrs. Shepherd has not contented 



. ' with raising seeds and plants in the old 



entional way. She has taken delicate and 



' >r plants, such as have hitherto been ex- 



•ivply grown in hot housps and has brought 



to a luxuriant development in the open 



ever before seen in the United States. Here 



)ble specimens of the Sea forth! a Elegans 



.'ocos Plumosa, two of the tlelicate varieties 



of palms, growing as vigorously as if in their 

 native soil. The graceful Egyptian Papyrus, 

 the New Zealand Flax, Camellias growing to the 

 dignity of small trees, Begcnias five and six feet 

 high with veritable masses of flowers, Abysin- 

 nian Bananas, Norfolk Island Pine (Auricaria 

 Excelsa), Fuchsias and Pelargoniums, rare |and 

 choice varieties of Amaryllis, Eouvardias, the 

 stately Dahlia Imperialis, the trees Dahlia Max- 

 imillian, immense Poinsettas which are trees 

 ten to twelve feet in height, make a bewildering 

 display. Mrs. Shepherd makes a specialty of 

 vines, chief among which was observed t a Big- 

 nonia sidera folia, which completely enveloped 

 the roof of a lath house twenty-five feet long, 

 and is starred with pale yellow, waxy flowers, 

 tipped with orange. 



Mingling with vine are equally luxurious 

 growths of Plumbago capensis and Bougain- 

 villia glabra. Upon another lath house of the 

 same size is a magnificent vine of the Cherokee 

 rose, mingling with the shining foliage of the 

 violet-tinted Begonia magnifica. On other 

 houses are the Begonia venustra, and Aristclo- 

 chia elegans, and an immense specimen of 

 Campsiaium filicefolium and Solanum magni- 

 fica of MandaviLa and Jasmines. Among the 

 most magnificent ann- al climbers is the Jpomca 

 ''Heavenly Blue," which originated in this gar- 

 den. The Mina-lobata, with its masses _.of red 

 and yellow spikes, forms a beautiful contrast. 



Mrs. Shepherd grows seeds, bulbs and plants 

 for the retail and wholesale trade, her chief cus- 

 tomers being the leading Eastern seedmen. She 

 makes a specialty of Smilax (seeds and plants) 

 Calla lilies, Cobaea scandans and the new, large 

 flowering French Cannas. Of Cannas she has 

 over fifty of the best varieties, from the first 

 known, Ehmanni, to the very'atest, President 

 Car not, Alphtnse Lcmcir, Geoffrey St. Hillaire, 

 Madame Crozy, Star of '91, and others too num- 

 erous to mention. She raises plants and seeds 

 from all of these. 



Mrs. Shepherd makes a speciality of Begonias, 

 about which she is more enthusiastic than -any- 

 thing else, rpgarding them as the most spiritual 

 of flowers adapting themselves with high cour- 

 age to all circumstances. She intends some- day 

 to surprise the world with her seedling Begonias, 

 of which she has a great variety; and she is con- 

 stantly cross-fertilizing and hybridizing these. 

 She makes a specialty of high-class seeds of the 

 Fibrous and Rex varieties, and also grows the 

 tuberous Begonias, double and single, of which 

 she has a choice coUection. 



Another favorite specialty which is made in 

 this garden is Cacti. There is a very large 

 collection of choice varieties. Mammallarias, 

 Echino cacti, night blooming and other Cereus, 

 and a bewildering collection of grotesque and 

 original forms, which surprise one with their 

 beautiful satiny flowers. She has a large collec- 

 tion of night-blooming varieties, chief among 

 which is the celebrated specimen, Cereus Trian- 

 gularis, inHy-five fed Io7ig, which clambers over 

 the roof of the high two-story dwelling. Three 

 acres of this floral plantation are in Chrysan- 

 themums. 



Mrs. Shepherd has an extensive collection of 

 Mexican Orchids which will stand this winter 

 in a lath house in this favored spot. Visitors to 

 the pace are surprised to see, growing in the 

 bark of a pepper tree, a beautiful specimen of 

 LiElia Anceps, which will soon bloom and which 

 has spent thrpe winters vpon this tree. This 

 garden is a shining example of what can be 

 done in the wonderful climate of Ventura-by-the- 

 Sea.— Los Angeles Express, Oct. 19, 1892. 



