Grown and For Sale at his Commercial Greenhouses, 
Vol. 1. JULY, 1877. No. 2. 
LAWNS AND LAWN PLANTS. 
f^T is our purpose to devote each number of the Index to a general review of that 
M l portion of the season in which it is issued, and to what is particularly interesting 
ifr to Floriculturist or Amateur interested in the growth and culture of Plants, Roses, 
Shrubs, Bulbs, &c., at the appropriate time. With this object in view, we devote this 
number to a talk about Lawns and Lawn Plants in' particular, for this is the season 
when every lawn should be kept in the cleanest and most showy condition possible. 
The Spring months are favorable to the tiowering of hardy Shrubs, Roses, Bulbs, and 
most of the hardy plants, but by July they are nearly all past their beauty, and now 
when hot weather commences in earnest is the time to bring out the glory of the hard 
wooded plants. 
The accumulation of a large quantity of plants, kept in fine foliage or llpwer, is 
always a beautiful sight; but the tine effect of grouping together different colors in 
the most appropriate place, or the arranging of rare and choice trees, shrubs or plants 
on the lawn, is as much of a study as the skill of the architect in arranging and plan- 
ning a large structure. Very few people seem to comprehend the truth of this state- 
ment; and although they are often dissatisfied with their own efforts at landscape 
gardening, they consider the price demanded by a landscape gardener for laying out 
the grounds as exorbitant and unjust. It is always necessary to exercise the greatest 
care in selecting appropriate plants, shrubs, <fcc., but the great point to be attained is 
a correct and artistic disposition of material after the purchase is made, and this can 
only be done by one who has studied the effect of massing, grouping or isolating 
choice plants on a lawn. 
In decorating a large lawn there is nothing to be obtained that will give it so much 
of a finished appearance as large tubs of Palms, Dracaenas, Tropical Shrubs, &c., either 
'ugly or in groups; however, very few people are prepared to keep such large plants 
7 er winter, or if they do have a conservatory, the wish to grow so many fiowering 
'ants during winter is often gratified to the injury of the foliage of the specimen 
.. In the list of lawn plants, the Palm always stands first, but it is not neces- 
. J < purchase the most costly ones to produce the greatest effect, for some of the 
lilj mmon varieties are to our notion the best. We will name a few that are easily 
0 y ' • 'mite hardy for Palms and sold at moderate prices : Cycas Revoluta, (so-called 
A ) : Phoenix dactylifera, (Date Palm) ; Phoenix Tenuis; Latana Borbonica, 
W< •■‘/'i Corypha Australis; Chemaerops humilis; C. excelsa; Seafourthia elegans; 
will be imentosa. The leaves of all these are quite large, strong and not easily 
a )y wind, hence they are the most serviceable for out-door or lawn decora- 
We say they can be obtained at moderate prices, but every year the nurseryman 
• . a plant he adds to the cost of it, and to purchase large, old plants that 
been grown for several years in a greenhouse, the cost of growing requires a 
^ocl round price to remunerate the nurseryman for the outlay. And now while we 
