206 
The Garden Magazine, December, 1920 
THE PRIDE OF THE NATIVE TREES 
More beautiful than any exotic the Live Oaks of California find a fitting place about 
the garden and house, in their maturity carrying a satisfying sense of completeness. 
Home of Mr. Carey Cook, San Rafael, on the northwest shore of San Francisco Bay 
the garden; Heliotrope of various shades from 
light to dark; Solanum Rantonnetti of a rich 
deep blue, a vining shrub always on dress parade 
if you are not too generous with water; the free- 
blooming light blue Plumbago, best in a wild 
mass over shed, embankment, or porch top, and 
the various Wistarias in full flower during Feb- 
ruary and March. Hardenbergia Comptoniana, 
a rare and pretty vine, throws out from January 
to May its sprays of small, violet, pea-like blooms. 
I he perennial Statice in the new hybrid types, 
evergreen and almost ever-blooming in shades 
of violet with flower stems one to three feet long, 
make splendid bunches of color. This, together 
with the annual varieties, is the popular “ immor- 
telle” that is being sent out from California. 
The dainty Australian Bluebell (Sollya hetero- 
phylla), is excellent for the pergola column or 
even for a ground cover or division fence. The 
Ageratums, blue Agathea, and Violets for bor- 
ders and beds, Convolvulus mauriticanus for an 
ever-blooming ground cover in shade or sun; 
Forget-me-nots for the shade, and Sweet Laven- 
der, Mignonette, and purple Verbenas are all 
satisfactory winter bloomers. 
In reds — the blazing Poinsettia, almost a 
tree, gorgeous from late November to January 
and bare from February to April, needs a foreground or 
screen of some evergreen shrub, such as the polished-leaf 
Coprosma or the brilliant-blossomed Callistemon (Bottlebrush, 
as it is commonly called.) The Showy Hibiscus, almost 
a small tree, double and single, in several shades of red, is 
effective until February. The flame-red flowers of Tecoma 
capensis clustered amid its rich green foliage adds a brilliant 
touch to the winter garden. The much beloved Pepper tree 
(Schinus molle), from Chile, with its very graceful foliage and 
bright red berries, grows better inland, about Los Angeles and 
vicinity, than near the coast or north of San Francisco. 
Bougainvillea lateritia with its masses of terra-cotta colored 
blooms is one of the choicest winter bloomers. Bougainvillea 
MONTEREY CYPRESS AS A HEDGE 
A somewhat exceptional use of this splendid evergreen in Pacific Coast gardens. 
An individual tree of the same is seen beyond the hedge and Pampas grass 
to the right of the bird bath. Garden of Mr. Albert C. Hooper, Palo Alto, Cal. 
glabra Braziliensis (best of all the purple varieties) must be 
very carefully placed to be tolerated in any garden. It is good 
with the blue Plumbago on some roof top or over a white cement 
garage, or trained into a high evergreen tree. The superior 
shrub, Grevillea Thelemanniana, with feather-like foliage and 
tasseled coral blooms, always in perfect condition, is the feasting 
board for the humming bird and the bee. 
That generous shrub, Cotoneaster pannosa, laden with straw- 
berry-red berries in sprays and garlands from one to six feet 
long; Cotoneasters microphylla and horizontalis, abundantly 
bedecked with bead-like coral fruits for almost the entire year, 
are strong-growing, prostrate shrubs of great merit for embank- 
ments and walls. The red-berry Hawthorn (Crataegus cuneata) 
is a superior plant for large places, and the attractive 
Nandina domestica is desirable for every garden. Geraniums 
in various reds and the perennial Pentstemon and Gaillardias 
are all fine bloomers. A new successful border shrub is a 
dwarf, everblooming Pomegranate, a U.S. Government introduc- 
tion. Of free-flowering habit it is practically an evergreen in the 
southern section, and can be kept trimmed to one or two feet. 
Only a few Aloes are in cultivation, A. ciliaris, a climber for 
bedecking walls, trunks of trees, etc., and the large-growing and 
smaller border varieties. All are winter bloomers of flame and 
terra cotta shades. They are plants needing the least care 
imaginable, and deserve to be more generally cultivated in 
California. The ten-page list of Aloes and Mesembryanthe- 
mums in the catalogue of the Hanbury Gardens at La Mortola 
Ventimiglia, Italy, points the way. 
In Pink — the Eucalyptus sideroxylon with a choice bloom 
from January to March; the Queen of Sheba Tecoma one of 
the most graceful vines in cultivation, an extravagant grower 
and bloomer in midwinter; Tecoma Mackenii, very similar, but 
a summer bloomer. The Ivy Geraniums of several shades are 
general favorites for window and porch boxes, sloping banks and 
division fences. Bush Geraniums for shade or sun in delicate 
shades of pink are very desirable. Saxafraga crassifolia gives 
good foliage and plenty of fine spikes all winter, and is excellent 
for broad borders and rockeries. Malacoides Primroses in sun 
or shade make masses of dainty flowers from December till 
April. The Mexican Daisy is always abloom, spreading by 
seed and runners. The free blooming and flat growing pink 
Oxalis purpurea makes a fine border or ground cover. The 
new pink Freesia is a valuable acquisition for the shady beds; 
and Verbenas are always satisfactory. 
