stem long, elastic, wand-like branches which are well furnished 
with beautiful compound leaves. These branches grow many- 
feet in a season, so that in three years the top of an arbor 
thirty feet long is well covered. The bunches of lavender-pink 
flowers pendant from the arbor roof are an exquisite sight 
throughout the winter. The exposure is full sun. 
A twining, woody, evergreen vine possessing great vigor, 
now that its root system is well established, is the 
Stigmaphyllon. Although shade is supposed to be its most 
congenial environment in Southern California, our plant 
flourishes in full sun. The soil is a porous, sandy loam. The 
blossoms, in clusters suggesting one of the varieties of tiny, 
yellow Orchids, have made one side of the house a glorj'- 
throughout the summer. The bright green leaves are most 
attractive, being two to three inches long and cordate in form. 
Neighboring with the Stigmapliyllon is the woody climber 
Bignonia distictis whose blooms most strongly resemble a deep 
purple Gloxinia when it first opens, gradually fading to an 
exquisite lavender in the sun. In a year and a half this vine 
has grown to the top of the first story of our house and lies 
in a mat on the roof where its flowers have formed a sheet of 
color through the entire summer, and now, in September, there 
are still many lovely clusters mingling with the Stigmapliyl- 
lon' s yellow. This Bignonia was introduced into Santa Barbara 
by Mr. Franceschi. It is not included in Bailey's Encyclopedia. 
Of all the shrubs in our garden this fall, the Brazilian 
Pleroma splendens is the most glorious and I think I use such 
enthusiastic adjective advisedly, for in two years it has grown 
to a stature of eight feet and the crown now has a fine spread. 
During these weeks it is a canopy of Tyrian purple, the single 
five-petal blossoms, about two inches across, being set thickly 
in clusters. The conspicuous, reddish, soft velvet calyx and 
the beautiful large green leaves, of the texture of lamb's ears, 
only accentuate the beauty of the purple flowers. Picture this 
mass of color against the blue of the sky, then look at the 
ground well covered with the falling petals, for the flowers 
last only a day, and you have the sort of sensation a garden 
lover may well call a thrill. The plant has full sun and porous 
soil and is never kept wet, yet never allowed to dry out 
completely. Cuttings made in early spring will root in a few 
weeks. This plant, also known as Lasiandra macrantha is now 
called Tihouchina semidecandra in the last edition of Bailey. 
Ednah "Wickson Kelly. 
Palms In selecting "Palms in Southern California Gardens" as 
my subject, owing to the diversity of opinions, whether or not 
these strangers from tropical lands should be allowed in our 
midst, I am afraid that I have chosen a difficult problem. 
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