58o 



GARDENING IN NEW ORLEANS. 



I detest a carpet-garden, where stars and moons are 

 scattered over the grass, and the most intense colors are 

 laid on as if by a paint-brush. I am sorry that many of 

 our city parks are gardens of this intensely artificial sort. 

 I overheard a countrywoman, in ecstasies over such a 

 display, say the flowers were almost as handsome as 

 artificial ones, such as bonnet-makers sell! Shewasright. 

 It is a style that involves artifice, an immense amount of 

 work annually, and never gives us a sensation of peace 

 and rest. I notice that cannas are often introduced in 

 this artificial manner. These glorious plants should be 

 used with great discretion, and never in a formal way. 

 We may set it down as a good rule that any arrangement 

 that does not suggest homefulness and restfulness is a 

 wrong method. Many of our parks have too many flow- 

 ers. I remember a friend's complaining that in some 

 parts of the southwest he could never get a whiff of pure 

 air. There was so much perfume continually breathed 

 out by flowers everywhere that he longed to find relief 

 in some flowerless resting place. 



Then I don't like flowers in borders. They are always 

 weedy places, and make a vast amount of work. Grass- 

 roots and clover will run two feet in a few weeks, and per- 

 meate such borders through and through. The same is 

 true of many styles of beds. Let me suggest a simple 

 remedy. Always have an alley outside any and all beds, 

 wide enough to hoe in, and cut the grass-roots before they 

 get to the beds. Unless you are rich enough to employ 

 workmen without restriction, you must adopt the easiest 

 methods of planting and culture. Of all abominations 

 the worst is fussing, indoors or out. When I go among 

 my flowers I don't wish to see Tom and Joe snipping and 

 nipping and scratching about. I prefer to let dandelions 

 grow in my lawn, to having an Irishman eternally in the 

 middle of that lawn digging them out. And as for lawn- 

 mowers, they are purely hateful with their rattle. Let 

 us have large lawns, plenty of grass and clover, lots of 

 hedges and nooks, flowers in cozy corners and ample 

 shrubberies, but no pretentious fussing. 



Oneida County, N. V. E. P. Powell. 



GARDENING IN NEW ORLEANS. 



AMONG TROPICAL PLANTS. 



OUISIANA has 

 many beautiful 

 gardens. After 

 a stroll along an avenue of cactus-plants 

 and among my own crotons, ferns, gera- 

 ' niums, etc, I boarded a street-car, not 

 long ago, and soon found myself on the extensive grounds 

 of Florist Fonta, out in the suburbs of New Orleans, 



On these grounds are many fine specimens of tropical 

 plants, prominent among them a fine i6-year-old seed- 



Img of Cocos australis. Amid the umbrageous, droop- 

 mg foliage that crowns the top of the tree grow heavy 

 bunches of nuts, many of them weighing 50 pounds, 

 From these the florist makes excellent wine. They are 

 borne in summer, and are about the size of crab-apples. 

 This palm is a native of Buenos Ayres, but flourishes 

 here as if in its native habitat, our climate and soil suit- 

 ing it admirably, so that it does not need winter protection. 



A fine Sabal falmctto, a special pride at this place, is 

 shown in the illustration (page 581). It came from the 

 West Indies. The florist tells me that 25 years ago palms 

 were not cultivated outdoors in this city. To-day there 

 are few gardens of any size that cannot boast of one or 

 more of these stately exotics, and in some gardens they 

 are numerous and lofty. Indeed, the "City of Palms" 

 would now be no misnomer for New Orleans. 



There are 15 distinct kinds of palms that grow out- 

 doors here. When young they require protection from 

 the cold for about 10 weeks — from December 15 to Feb- 

 ruary 15. During this time they are packed around the 

 heart with straw or excelsior shavings. It is customary, 

 as a precautionary measure, to protect during January 

 and February all young outdoor palms. 



Florist Fonta makes a specialty of orchids as well as 

 palms, and in his great hothouses grow more than 200 va- 

 rieties of costly orchidaceous plants gleaned from all parts 



