FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
43 
personal knowledge. It was this reason 
alone, combined with a desire to observe 
the damage to supposedly hardy species 
that led my father to tour the whole 
southern end of the State immediately 
following the freeze of ’17. 
From our thirty-eight years of expe¬ 
rience with Florida conditions we have 
evolved the philosophy that there is no 
section of the State, at least on the main 
land, that is absolutely free, from occa¬ 
sional frost. Of course there are some 
sections more free than others; some 
where, even when it does turn cold, it 
is only of short duration and seems to 
lack that stinging power it possesses far¬ 
ther north. So after all we are only rel¬ 
atively tropical, not absolutely. 
How important this consideration must 
be. to the landscape architect, can be read¬ 
ily illustrated. Suppose in his effort to 
secure a definite effect he has recourse to 
very tropical plants to sound the key note 
of his garden—either as to color or fo¬ 
liage. Supposing, then, one of our oc¬ 
casional freezes is so inconsiderate as to 
interfere and kill these tropical plants 
down to the ground. After all, he’s 
worse, off than he was in the beginning; 
for he has lost not only his plants but a 
year or more of valuable time. In con¬ 
sidering plant materials it is well to re¬ 
member then the only relative immunity 
from frost of most sections of the State., 
and make the backbone of the develop¬ 
ment at least relatively hardy. Nature 
has aided considerably in this regard by 
providing a large class of shrubs which 
while, they may be killed to the ground 
by a hard frost, will yet sprout again 
from the roots, and thus may for prac¬ 
tical purposes be said to be hardy. Hi¬ 
biscus, oleanders, acalyphas, lantana, 
poinsettias, stenolobium, and phyllanthus 
will be recognized among this class. 
Having given the matter considerable 
study, and finding it an asset as a ready 
reference, we prepared a rough map of 
the State a number of years ago showing 
the relative temperatures to be expected 
in various sections of the State and their 
comparative immunity from frost. Hav¬ 
ing found it helpful ourselves we are glad 
to pass it on, and a copy is being sub¬ 
mitted with this report but it does not 
merit further attention here. 
Having then finished our general re¬ 
marks on Florida Climatology, the next 
consideration would be the relatively well 
known and comparatively little known 
plant materials. 
In order to consider the little known 
materials it was first necessary to sepa¬ 
rate the well known, and to this end I 
have prepared a table covering seventy- 
five of the better known subjects with 
notes as to their common names, native 
habitat, color of flowers, blooming pe¬ 
riod, height, hardiness, and soil prefer¬ 
ence, and other remarks. This is sub¬ 
mitted with this report but needs now no 
further attention. Conifers have not 
been included in this list, except for Cas- 
uarina, not because we are unaware of 
their many fine qualities, but because of 
the feeling that in a comparative tropical 
State like this with our wealth of broad- 
leaved evergreens it would be better to 
use distinctive subjects which can not be 
grown in other states. We realize the val¬ 
ue, of course, of the conifer in the proper 
position, especially trees. It is the use of 
conifers in foundation plantings to which 
we wish to particularly take exception. 
