186 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
By Henry S. Pennock. 
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
Most of the ornamentals used about 
Palm Beach are more or less of a trop¬ 
ical nature and so they suffer more or 
less when we have a freeze. The cocoa- 
nut palm which is used a great deal for 
avenue work and is a magnificent thing 
for such, suffers badly and so some 
people are planting the date palm in its 
stead, the particular variety being the 
canariensis. And another thing in favor 
of the date palm is, it is a slower grower 
and so does not have the long spindly 
trunk the cocoanut would have in fifteen 
or twenty years. The royal palm is used 
for single specimens and among the 
smaller the sago palm holds first place 
and I do not think there is anything 
finer than a large, handsome one placed 
by itself on a well kept lawn. The 
borbonica is used somewhat. 
Among the trees that are used are the 
Australian pines and oaks, the latter 
were planted along most of the streets 
of West Palm Beach a few years ago, 
they are doing quite well. I am trying 
a few trees of the California beefwood, 
in the description I read of them it said 
they would make a good growth in the 
poorest kind of soil, I thought they ought 
to suit me pretty well and also they would 
grow where the salt spray was blown on 
them. I got them last summer and so 
far they are doing all right. The two va¬ 
rieties I have are Casuarina Stricta and 
C. Equisetifolia. The sapodilla, rose 
apple, rubber tree, banyan, mango, avoca¬ 
do, umbrella tree and royal poinciana 
are all used singly and they all make a 
very nice lawn tree. Some consider the 
royal poinciana the handsomest tree 
that grows, it certainly is fine when it is 
in bloom with its bunches of scarlet 
flowers. 
Of the bushes the oleander and hibis¬ 
cus are seen the most, they are both such 
fine bloomers, the hibiscus is especially 
so, blooming all year. The oleander is 
used a good deal for windbreaks, it grow¬ 
ing fifteen feet or more high. The phy- 
lanthus or snow bush is the prettiest 
shrub that we have and it is used a great 
deal for walk borders, its red and white 
variegated and green and white leaves 
make a very dainty, delicate effect. The 
red variegated acalypha is liked very well 
too, it grows higher getting six and eight 
feet high. Crape myrtle, bamboos, dwarf 
hydrangea, cattley guava, sisil, panda- 
nus utilis and veitchii, auricaria and ca- 
rissa arduina are used singly and in 
groups. We have a few plants of the 
carissa arduina and we like it very well 
for a hedge plant, it grows well in poor 
dry sand and its glossy green leaves look 
well all the year, at this time of the 
year it bears a star shaped white flower. 
I think if it was planted close enough it 
would turn cattle as it is quite thorny. 
There is nothing that quite equals the 
bougainvilla among the climbers, with its 
masses of purple flowers it makes a mag¬ 
nificent sight. I was told by a gentleman 
living in Eau Gallie that he had one Out¬ 
side and that it was doing very well, 
everybody should have one. A bougain¬ 
villa on one side of a pergola or an 
arbor with an allamanda on the other 
makes an effect that is hard to excel, 
