FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
133 
used as single plants and for outlining 
boundary lines, and Yuccas are used for 
the same purpose and for protecting or¬ 
ange groves from predatory visitors. 
They make a good fence and windbreak. 
There are a great many other tropical 
and sub-tropical trees, shrubs and plants 
that I have not mentioned that grow here 
in the open ground without any protec¬ 
tion whatever. 
I have two Orchids, Vanilla planifolia, 
that are growing on the north side of two 
Date Palms for the past six years with¬ 
out any protection; they have bloomed for 
the past two years, but have not set fruit. 
During the winter months we grow 
quantities of annuals, such as Salvias, 
Petunias, Marguerite Carnations, Candy 
tuft, Mignonette, Nasturtiums, etc., etc., 
for cut flowers. Besides these we have 
good Tea and Hybrid Tea Roses, Easter 
lilies, etc. I may add that there is very 
little attempt made at landscape garden¬ 
ing. In some places plants are huddled 
together in a border without any regard 
to their future size, or else planted out 
promiscuously in the open, usually in 
straight lines with no regard to vista or 
surroundings. 
The subject of my paper is an interest¬ 
ing one to me. There are so many trees 
and plants growing here that I have not 
mentioned, and which if I did, would 
make this paper much too large, so I will 
close. 
Theodore L. Mead 
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
My paper today will necessarily con¬ 
sist of only a few notes, as since I have 
been of the fraternity of market-gard¬ 
eners I have found that crops, especially 
under cloth cover, require all the time 
there is, including days and nights and 
holidays and Sundays and leave little 
time for any side interests. 
My orchids surprised me by their en¬ 
durance of hardship and neglect. I man¬ 
aged to water them with the hose about 
once a week and fired the greenhouse 
boiler on the coldest nights, but could do 
little else. The glass sashes were re¬ 
moved during the summer, leaving the 
lath shading so that the plants had the 
benefit of the summer rains. Nearly all 
the terrestrial plants in the greenhouse 
died from neglect, but at least two-thirds 
of the orchids survived and g'ave a grat¬ 
ifying display of flowers in their season. 
A few rare hybrids now ornament your 
president’s desk. 
The new amaryllis varieties, as bred 
by Dr. Nehrling at Gotha, have proved 
a great improvement upon the scarlet 
sorts commonly grown in Florida gar¬ 
dens, and we owe Dr. Nehrling a debt 
of gratitude for putting these beautiful 
forms within our reach, as his seedlings 
are nearly equal to the foreign named 
varieties, which cost often ten dollars 
and more for each bulb, when imported 
from the European fanciers. 
With a little patience anyone may now 
have a royal bed of these fine varieties 
