46 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
it is a wonderful subject in its place, but 
the good Lord never meant it for every 
use. under the canopy, which is about 
what you seem to expect of it. For sea¬ 
shore use where salt and poor soil must 
be combated it is without a peer—but that 
is about enough to expect of it! 
What a pity three or four miles of the 
Dixie Highway from Palm Beach south 
could not have been planted with Bau- 
hinias, world-famed for their orchid-like 
beauty, instead of the somber Australian 
Pines. Another section planted with Jac- 
arandas; still another with the justly fa¬ 
mous Silk-Cotton from Jamaica; another 
with the blood red Sterculia; or Steno- 
carpus sinuatus, the wheel of fire; or a 
number of other truly wonderful subjects. 
Had this been done you would have had a 
leafy tunnel, constantly changing, both 
from mile to mile and from day to day. 
Indeed it could have been so arranged 
that not a day would have, passed without 
finding some section in full bloom, mak¬ 
ing it a true “Pathway of Flowers.” 
In the central and northern sections of 
the State much work must yet be done in 
searching for really distinctive subjects 
at the same time practically hardy. It is 
well to note the increasing use of the Silk 
Oak, Grevillea robusta, in the central por¬ 
tion of the. State, especially the high, dry 
sand hills of Polk County, which is just 
the type of soil they appreciate. It is 
good to know, too, that these trees can 
now be obtained in large sizes, suitable 
for street planting, and doing away with 
a large, portion of the delay in securing 
immediate effects. The Jacaranda is also 
coming into its own. About as hardy as 
the Cocos plumosa, it is being extensive¬ 
ly used in the. central section of the State, 
and it will not be long until its wonderful 
sky-blue mass of flowers will be a com¬ 
mon sight throughout the State during 
April and early May. It prefers a rather 
damper soil than the Grevillea but it must 
be well drained. The Melaleuca leucaden- 
dron should be mentioned also. It is com¬ 
monly called Cajuput or punk tree, but 
really it isn’t a “punk” tree but a very fine 
one, especially on low, wet situations not 
too cold. It is also salt resistant. We are 
doing quite a bit of experimental work 
in the effort to extend this list of har¬ 
dier shade trees and hope to be able to 
report additions, but we’ll have to wait 
until we have a real freeze before we can 
report definitely. 
In passing from the shade trees I 
should like to mention the Callitris verru¬ 
cosa, or cypress pine of Australia, a truly 
wonderful conifer and hardy through¬ 
out the State, and growing well even in 
the. poorest white sand ridges. Ordina¬ 
rily it makes a broadly columnar tree up 
to sixty feet in height and branched all 
the. way up from the ground. By a lit¬ 
tle trimming, however, it can be forced 
up as slender as an Italian cypress or it 
can be kept down into a low spreading, 
round headed tree, this adaptability mak¬ 
ing it very useful in landscape artistry. 
Having spent so much time on the 
palms and shade trees, we will have time 
only for a hasty survey of the shrubs and 
vines before passing on to the consider¬ 
ation of the methods of obtaining tropical 
effects. 
In the tropical shrubs we have again a 
wealth of materials, comparatively little 
known, and surely worthy of planting 
