42 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



[March, 



"omgi |pfeiii| e 



HOW PLANTS BEHAVE IN BRAZIL. 



To one who has spent all his life in temper- 

 ate regions where for many months in the year 

 the earth is sealed up by frost and snow and all 

 floral life is temporarily suspended, a life in 

 the tropics, a region of perpetual verdure, 

 seems almost an entrance to Paradise. Palms 

 waving tall fronds, great trees trailing with 

 flowering vines or masses of bright flowers, 

 with Orchids perched on the branches or 

 clothed witli climbing Perns, the air soft and 

 filled with the fragrance of flowers, and all 

 this in January — a month of cold and storm — 

 do indeed present an enchanting picture, the 

 reality of which it is hard at first to believe. 

 Nor is the charm evanescent ; it is renewed day 

 by day, and accustomed as one may become to 

 perpetual summer, he never wearies of it. 



When first we came to Brazil our desire was 

 to surround ourselves with flowers. Knowing 

 well that the inhabitants of our hothouses grew 

 in the open air in Para, which is almost under 

 the equator, we brought with us a couple of 

 hundred pots of greenhouse plants, natives of 

 many different tropical countries. Also a good 

 stock of seeds of annuals, thinking they would 

 thrive wonderfully and give a wealth of bloom 

 in a region of heat and moisture. To say we 

 have been disappointed would perhaps be say- 

 ing too much, but in truth many of our ideas 

 as to the "fitness of things" in the floral 

 world have received a rude shock, and the 

 plants in many cases behave in a manner which 

 astonishes and which has disappointed many 

 fond expectations. 



As to annuals, they are, with some few ex- 

 ceptions, a failure. The seed comes up, often 

 in twenty-four hours, and the plants grow with 

 extraordinary rapidity, but they want the 

 sturdy habit which they have in temperate 

 climes. As gardeners say, they "spindle," 

 grow tall and have no side branches or very 

 few. Then they at once come into bloom, 

 sometimes with the more precocious in three 

 weeks, set seed, and as soon as it ripens, which 

 it does very rapidly, they die. Then there is a 

 strong tendency with all double flowers to be- 

 come single, and this is not only the case with 

 annuals, but also with tubers and woody plants. 

 Balsams and Asters grow rapidly, give a few 

 scattered or terminal flowers, and in a few 

 weeks from the time of planting their life is 

 over. Zinnias, on the contrary, grow ram- 

 pantly, but even the best "double" seed gives 

 only single flowers. 



Ten-Weeks Stock forms a stout, sturdy crown 

 of leaves but refuses to bloom, and this both in 

 pots and in the garden in various situations. 

 Petunias grow very strong but fail to bloom, 

 whether well fed or pot-bound and starved. 

 Mignonette grows but will not bloom. Coreop- 

 sis gives a single flower on a tall stalk, and the 

 same is true of many other plants of like 

 growth. Pinching, to make bushy plants, has 

 no effect; if moderately done one side shoot 

 takes the place of the leader, and if practiced 

 severely the plant dies. 



Of annual climbers some do very well, others 

 are a failure. Morning Glories give a few 

 flowers, very brilliant in color, from seed, and 

 die in a few weeks, and removing the seed 

 vessels has no effect in prolonging the life of 

 the plant. Cypress Vine grows luxuriantly and 

 the plants are a mass of bloom. There are 

 many wild plants in Brazil belonging to the 



Morning Glory family which are very beauti- 

 ful. With some exceptions these are not an- 

 nuals, but planted from seed they soon form 

 large tuberous roots and endure for years. 



One of the most remarkable of these is an 

 Ipomcea with large white flowers, often six 

 inches in diameter, with a pearly star in the 

 center. The seed often germinates in 48 

 hours and the plants grow rapidly; we have 

 had them covered with flowers in six weeks 

 from the time of planting. It is a night- 

 bloomer, expanding just before sunset and fad- 

 ing after sunrise. The effect of these immense 

 white flowers on the dark foliage is very beau- 

 tiful, especially by moonlight, and even in the 

 darkest night they seem, as it were, to draw 

 the light to them and stand forth from the 

 darkness, and fill the air with a rich, spicy 

 fragrance. Thunbergias grow rapidly and 

 cover everything near them with leaves and 

 flowers, but only the orange and the straw 

 colored species are found ; we have the white, 

 which is quite a wonder to the natives. 



All the species of Celosia grow freely and 

 the colors of the foliage are wonderfully fine. 

 Imagine an Amaranthus tricolor (Joseph's Coat) 

 twelve feet high and a mass of rich foliage ! 



But now for tubers ; and first the Tuberose, 

 of which only the single variety exists, for the 

 reason that the double deteriorates and never 

 more than once gives double flowers. But the 

 masses of Tuberoses, called here "Angelica," 

 are very fine; great grassy clumps which 

 are seldom out of bloom. Cannas form im- 

 mense clumps sending up flower-stalks eight to 

 ten feet in height, terminating in spikes of 

 gorgeous bloom. Maderia Vine grows well and 

 trails from the trees festoons heavy with bloom. 

 Dahlias grow and bloom but always have a 

 yellow center. The effect of the climate upon 

 variegated foliage is peculiar. The Variegated 

 leaved Tuberose, if grown in a pot, keeps the 

 white marking but in t he garden becomes green. 



Pandan us Javam icus variegatus and Veitchii, 

 which are so distinct in their colorings in our 

 stove houses show nothing but a glossy green 

 foliage. Acalyphas grow rampantly and keep 

 the brilliant eotoring only on the margin of the 

 leaf. The variegated Pine-Apple is, if possible, 

 more beautiful than in our stove houses, and 

 Hoya variegata (wax plant) grows better. Al- 

 most all variegated annuals lose their coloring, 

 but there is no lack of color in our garden. 

 The Crotons are masses of bright yellow and 

 red, the plants of immense size and the Caladi- 

 ums, which are native here, grow in enormous 

 clumps and are very brilliant ; of these we have 

 already collected forty species, two of the most 

 noticeable of which are one with a lustrous 

 coppery leaf (it is not a Colocasia,) and another 

 with dark green lanceolate leaf, on the back of 

 which grows a second smaller leaf. This latter 

 is not a sport but a well defined species, and is 

 very curious as well as ornamental. 



Among trees too, there is such a great divers- 

 ity of f oliagejthat, even were the Orange tree not 

 bending heavy with golden fruit, and covered at 

 the same time with flowers, always a picture of 

 beauty, the great Breadfruit waving with its 

 deep-cut foliage, and Bananas whose leaves are 

 often as tall as.the Orange trees, swaying in the 

 cool breeze, there would be sufficient to attract 

 and please, if only from mere novelty of form. 

 Just now (January) the old Mangoe trees are 

 bright with masses of the pretty Orchid Rodri- 

 guezia secunda, the flowers varying in shade 

 from deep wine-color to light pink. 



But to return to our subject. Almost all 

 plants of the Amaryllis family do well, but the 



bright and pretty Vallota purpurea fails to 

 bloom and Clivia ?wbilis will not grow. 



Perhaps our greatest disappointment was 

 with Dutch bulbs. We had a good collection, 

 but all behaved in the same obstinate manner, 

 refusing to grow either roots or shoots although 

 perfectly sound and healthy; they "stood still " 

 for nine months and then rotted away, and this 

 both in pots and in the garden. Thus we have 

 to depend upon memory for Hyacinths, Tulips, 

 Snowdrops, and Narcissus, but their place is 

 more than filled by the many Orchids which 

 grow with so little care and which rival them 

 in rich color and delicious fragrance. 



We might multiply almost indefinitely in- 

 stances of the different nature which plants 

 develop in a temperate and torrid zone, the 

 latter here a strange misnomer, for Brazil is by 

 no means torrid, the weather never being as hot 

 as often in the United States in summer ; but 

 enough has been written to give a general idea 

 of those differences and to show that at one 

 time and place we cannot, even under seem- 

 ingly most favorable conditions, have flowers 

 of every kind. E. S. Rand, Jr. 



JAPANESE GARDENS. 



The love of flowers, shrubs and trees is widely 

 spread in Japan; even in the busy commercial 

 quarters of the large towns almost every house 

 has its garden spot with its tiny dwarf shrubs. 

 These dwarf shrubs and trees probably owe 

 their origin to the narrow limits of space, and 

 their production is carried on to such a ridicu- 

 lous degree that a Dutch merchant was shown 

 a box three inches deep, and with a square inch 

 of surface, in which a Bamboo, a Fir and a 

 Plum tree, the latter in full bloom, were grow- 

 ing and thriving. The price asked for this 

 botanical curiosity was about $300. The 

 method of dwarfing is by cheeking the circula- 

 tion of the sap, cramping the extension of the 

 branches, chilling the roots in flat, porous 

 pots, which are kept constantly cold and wet. 

 Many dwarf plants have striped or variegated 

 leaves, and the production of such varieties, 

 both dwarfed and in the natural size, is a fa- 

 vorite hobby with Japanese gardeners. In the 

 portions of the garden immediately surround- 

 ing the house, no tree or shrub is allowed to 

 retain its natural size, but within one sees fans, 

 ships in full sail, round tables, candelabra, 

 large crescents and stiff, rectangular walls. 

 A soft, velvet-like turf covers the ground, and 

 the clean gravel paths are bordered with gay 

 stones, dwarf trees and flower vases. From 

 the ponds, in which gold fish swim, and from 

 the artificial rivulets, rise mossy little rocks, to 

 which tiny bridges of every conceivable shape 

 lead. Such spots require too much care and 

 attention to admit of wide extention, and so 

 they generally occupy but a comparatively 

 small space in front of the mansion. High, 

 pruned hedges inclose these green boudoirs, 

 where nature is disguised and curled as con- 

 ventional culture and the usage of "good soci- 

 ety " demand. Without these lies the larger 

 part of the garden, where nature is left more 

 to herself. Japanese gardens look most beau- 

 tiful toward the end of autumn, when the foli- 

 age of the Maple assumes a bright purple hue. 

 and the Azaleas and Wax trees are clothed in 

 dark purple tints. About this time, too, the 

 Winter Chrysanthemum is in bloom; it is 

 the favorite flower of the Japanese, who pos- 

 sess countless varieties of it. The size and 

 splendor of its star-like flowers are often in- 

 credible. — J. Douglas, in Gardeners' Chronicle. 



