Wanted: A Genuine Southern California 



Park 



RALPH D. CORNELL 

 LANDSCAPE GARDENER 

 LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA 



What could be more interesting and educational, to the people at large, than 

 a public park devoted to plants indigenous to our dry and semi-arid lands, and 

 representative of the many forms of plant life that are found along our coast 

 slopes? A dry ground park, planted only to native trees, shrubs and flowers, 

 would be one of the greatest possible assets to Southern California, and especially 

 to the community whose park board was sufficiently aggressive and far seeing to 

 establish such a system of planting. Not in all California can one find a collection 

 of the native flora of sufficient consequence to warrant its recognition as such. 

 Europe is far in advance of us in the cultivation of plants that grow wild on our 

 dry hillsides, and unnoticed by us evolve, at our very doors, their wholesome lives 

 of purity and beauty. Instances may be commonly cited where, unable to obtain 

 reliable seeds at home, plant propagators have sent to Europe for seeds of flowers 

 and shrubs growing wild on our own hills. It is true that many native plants and 

 seeds are found in our markets, accessible to those who know, but the masses of 

 people are unaware of the abundant wealth of flower and foliage, lying on all sides 

 of us, inviting recognition and adoption. 



Wild plants, when brought under cultivation, are prone to change their habits 

 and appearance to a greater or less degree. The dignity of the move seems to 

 demand that they put forth stronger efforts toward the perfection of their already 

 inimitable charms. There are very few plants that do not improve under the more 

 favorable conditions aflforded them by protection and cultivation. The change is 

 often so great that one familiar with a plant, in its native environment, will not 

 recognize it in a new home. 



Eastern residents, coming to California, find our parks quite similar to those 

 which they are accustomed to seeing. With the exception of palms and a few 

 things of more pronounced individuality, our evergreens, in general appearance, 

 are not greatly unlike eastern plants, during their growing season, especially when 

 planted in park form. The first mental impression upon visitors is the lasting 

 impression, and there is little strikingly or distinctively characteristic in the land- 

 scape effect produced in our average park. A park should present a series of 

 living pictures, in plant life, executed along the lines of greatest possibility. Not 

 one person in a hundred distinguishes between a broad and a narrow leaved ever- 

 green, or is sufficiently impressed by the individual specimen to give the name 

 of a plant ten minutes later, had he recognized it at the time. It is the general 

 tone of harmony or discord that leaves its effect upon the visitor, and that he 

 remembers long after the details have been forgotten. 



It seems to be our general tendency to make parks as artificial as possible, 

 although one or two very commendable projects for developing natural parks are 



