A TRIBUTE. TO MRS. “SHEPHERD'S GARDENS. 
es ” [Extract from "The Sunday Los Angeles: Times, Magazine Section, July, 6, 1902.) >. 
Pa sane: Theodosia B. Shepherd’s home is not far from the old mission eardens of,” 
San Buenaventura, where still stand the hoary olive trees and the two stately sis- 
ter palms planted more than a century ago by the Spanish padres. Here lies Mrs. 
Ke ‘Shepherd’s garden, flooded with sunshine and fanned by, the softest sea breezes. 
a - Here grow rare palms. from Australia and Guadaloupe as well as the graceful ° 
_. bamboo and the Strelitzia reginae from the Cape of Good Hope, its splendid col- 
- beauty, and here flaunt — “searlet. poinsettias, the rainbow ecsmos’ and the, 
“giant. flowering canna, “Myriads of carnations, “the divine flower,” fill the air | 
with spicy perfume. Purple. heliotrope riots in long. stretches of hedges, and 
great beds of Belladonna. Amaryllis dazzle the eye with their richness, ba AV 
. Over great‘frames and across lath houses are thrown veils of blossoms of the 
“magnificent Bignonia venusta, the rich magenta rose bracts of the Bougainvillea, 
the intense violet blue of the Ipomea Learii, or the rare and snowy Mandavilla 
me grandiflora. Masses of glossy foliage, long, trailing, graceful branches; showy 
- colors in flaring yellow, trumpet-like flowers, or airy clusters of Tpomea, “Heav- 
- -enly blue, ” or rich rose-pink and’ scarlet blossoms of passion vines all charm. the 
an Ree: with their effective and exceeding loveliness. In the shadow of the, lath 
. houses, or growing néar them in the open air, a hundred varieties of captivating 
gaat run riot, in myriads of exquisite flowers, While Flora has done much 
_.in these gardens, art has added greatly ta her work; for Mrs. Shepherd has lived 
$0 many years close to the heart of nature, and has so truly been her interpreter, 
- that through these years of careful selection and the ce of cross-fertilization 
t she has Cy eli ee many new WES, of flowers. 
THE CREATION fore FLORAL. WONDERS. 
‘(Extract from The Sunday San Franeiseo Chronicle, January 20; 1901. hs 
~ ties at night. I never had any regular hour for retiring, but read, or wrote, or 
. _ prowled around, doing my greatest tasks ‘in the wee sma’ hours.” 
the field of flowers with a special mission to perform for them, to grow and dis- 
. seminate them where they are loved and appreciated, te. write and talk about eg 
a them, ‘but, most of all, to create new varieties.”’ be 
-* We stood by the. cactus bed, for Mrs. Shepherd was hybridizing her cacti, he: 
% mipht- bloomers: ‘those beautiful creations that nature produces only to attain © 
a their fullest perfection at night, 1 held the lamp, Mrs. Shepherd carried: a little | 
ers stood in long’ rows like sentinels in the darkness. The flowers, a dozen or 
more in each column, gleameéd in the dim light, funnel-shaped, with creamy white 
‘stamers and satin-fringed petals. 1 held the lamp high, throwing a fitful light — 
over the great beds stretching away in the distance. I saw the showy Phillo 
eactus and the glorious blossoms of the Cereus triangularus, with many varieties, 
full of bristling spines and dainty blossoms. In the groups ‘of these Jatter — 
‘ gleamed ‘great starry flowers, ‘while the beautiful Manillaries and the exquisite . 
neat Echinopsis met the eye in ‘countless numbers, Ghostly effects appeared here and 
- there in the distance, where the curious OM ear PACtUS ” erew, with. its Brranee 
q covering of long; white hair. 
“This is Phylocereus Ackermanni, the pollen honrer, if said Mrs. Shepherd, re 
_ directing my attention to the plant. ‘These flowers have attained their fullest. 
perfection—see, I cut away the anthers of the others, the Cereus. Colubrinus,”’ 
and as she spoke she clipped with the scissors the beautiful fringes of the flower, 
leaving the pistil high above in its satin cup. Then, with a little brush, she took a 
the pollen carefully from phyllocereus ‘Ackermanni and dusted lightly with the 
pretty pink pollen the denuded flower. Little by little we moved down the long - 
rows, treating each flower separately, and. then, to protect the work, from wan- © 
ering night insects, seach | blossom was hooded with a. eater of Visi paper 
vomit ee i the Diag bios ee work 1 was one ata, | 
: oring” seeming a sunbeam incarnate. ‘Here a great tree fern rises in. semi-tropic A 
oe “<whena I was a girl,” ‘she said, smilingly, ies was often called by my family. the : 
“The: Night Blooming Cereus,’ ‘because always seemed to develop my best facul- 
_“T sometimes. think, ” Mrs, Shepherd said, “that we do not choose our sebriey but ies ‘ 
are chosen or called to it. It has always seemed to me that 1 was called into 
pair of scissors and some sheets of tissue paper. The many-ribbed night-bloom-. i 
