Ornamentals. 
SELECT BULBOUS AND TUBEROUS-ROOTED PLANTS FOR 
FLORIDA GARDENS. 
By H. Nehrling 
Mr. President , Ladies and Gentlemen: 
Florida is the land of “unlimited pos¬ 
sibilities” as far as ornamental horticul¬ 
ture is concerned. We are able to grow 
in the open hundreds—no, thousands— 
of species of tropical and subtropical 
plants which farther north can only be 
grown with considerable trouble and 
many expenses in glasshouses. I have 
wandered through many parts of our 
country in quest of birds and plants. I 
have sojourned in Texas, and made my 
home for a number of years in the Ozark 
region of south-western Missouri. I have 
lived on the prairies of Illinois, and spent 
my boyhood days in the idyllic forest 
regions of Wisconsin, my native state. 
I have seen all the elaborate gardens 
around Boston, New York, Baltimore, 
Philadelphia, Chicago, Milwaukee, 
Washington, and New Orleans; but no¬ 
where have I found such a wealth of 
beautiful native and exotic plants as in 
Florida, very aptly called the land of sun¬ 
shine and flowers. Even if we were de¬ 
prived of exotic plants, we could make 
glorious gardens from the material found 
in our woodlands and along our water¬ 
courses. Native plants should form the 
foundations of all our gardens. Plant 
first of all the cabbage palmetto, the 
noble Magnolia grandiflora, the sweet bay 
(Magnolia glauca), the loblolly bay 
(Gordonia Lasianthus), the holly (Ilex 
opaca), the dahoon (Ilex Cassine), the 
red cedar (Juniperus Barbadensis), the 
laurel cherry (Prunus Caroliniana), the 
wild olive (Osmanthus Americanus), the 
live-oak (Quercus virens ) 7 and do not 
forget that jewel among climbers, the 
Carolina or Yellow Jessamine (Gelse- 
mium sempervirens). This greets you 
on New Year’s day with a wealth of de¬ 
liciously sweet-scented, yellow flower- 
trumpets. 
Our worthy president has suggested 
to me to read a paper on bulbous and 
tuberous-rooted plants adapted to our soil 
and climate. This suggestion is very 
timely, because only a very limited num¬ 
ber of our people really know what has 
been done along these lines* in recent 
years. It is true, gifted writers of high 
intellect, like P. W. Reasoner and E. N. 
Reasoner, Theo. L. Mead, Walter N. 
Pike, W. C. Steele, Mrs. Jennie S. Per¬ 
kins, and others, have pointed out, time 
and again, the great possibilities of grow¬ 
ing bulbous and tuberous-rooted plants in 
Florida. Many and important have been 
the articles that have appeared from time 
to time in The Florida Agriculturist , and 
in the older volumes of The Farmer and 
Fruit Grower; but as far as I am aware 
