FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
169 
we hear the expression, “Oh! what a 
beautiful home,’’ and before we have 
passed a mile we say, “Oh! what a beau¬ 
tiful housed’ Without knowing it we 
have expressed the sentiments in our 
hearts. 
Palms are the most esthetic plants that 
we can use for the home grounds’ orna¬ 
mentation. They have a wealth of foli¬ 
age, a grace of bearing and a permanency 
ideal that is not approached by anything 
else. In spite of this, when we find a 
jungle of a very fine specimen of palms, 
we are not very much attracted to them. 
They must be set out in such a way as to 
express our idea. 
The ideal home is not a place of se¬ 
clusion, yet we must plant in such a way 
that we can have the privacy that goes 
with a home. We must constantly bear 
in mind that the special point of view is 
from the home. The view from the street 
to the home is of secondary consideration. 
By a proper grouping and setting out of 
the plants, the approach to the house can 
be so arranged as to make it possible to 
have all of the breeze and air that is 
going, and at the same time have it 
screened from the highway, leaving here 
and there, glimpses or vistas to the home. 
If you will notice the photographs 
that I have passed you, you see that the 
view of the home to the high-way is al¬ 
most unobstructed, while the row of palms 
along the highway is so near to the trav¬ 
elers, that there is little opportunity for 
publicity, and at the same time there are 
many angles at which it is possible to 
see the interior of the grounds in riding 
past slowly. Almost every species of 
palm, which include at least twenty, is 
in view at one time or another. 
PLANTING TO EXPRESS AN IDEAL. 
• The landscape architects and landscape 
gardeners have their perfectly proper 
place, and they are useful even as adjuncts 
to planting our home grounds. If, how¬ 
ever, you rely on these sources of infor¬ 
mation entirely you will get a stereotype 
form for your home grounds. This ster¬ 
eotyped form may be very much better 
than anything that you can do. It has, 
however, one serious defect, and that is 
that it does not express your own ideals. 
I should not be understood to mean that 
you should not get all of the help possible, 
but the help should be in such a way as 
to make a part of yourself. Books on 
landscape gardening are accessible to 
every one. It will cost only a trifle, when 
we compare what we spend on our home 
ground ornamentations. Photographs of 
beautiful plants and beautiful grounds, 
and even photographs of fine estates are 
readily obtained at a trifling cost. These 
photographs are taken by professional 
photographers, or made as ’’snapshot,” 
and do not as a rule present the picture. 
It requires a great deal of time and most 
careful study on the part of the real artist 
to locate his camera properly. Lastly we 
have an opportunity of visiting any num¬ 
ber of well-ornamented grounds in al¬ 
most any section of the State. I have 
very frequently visited such in company 
with members of the Horticultural Socie¬ 
ty. It is worth the while for one to studv 
the feelings of others while visiting such 
beautiful grounds. The unconscious ex- 
