FOR A TROPICAL TASTE — PAPAYA 
Look Again! .. . 
(Continued from front page) 
not a pine at all but of that curious family 
which takes the place of pines in the 
southern hemisphere, the Araucariaceae. 
To the left in the same lawn grows an even 
more unusual tree for this climate — the 
Picea pungens glauca (Colorado Blue 
Spruce). 
Side-tracking into Fountain avenue from 
the Strip," one is suddenly pressed in on 
both sides and overhead by the heavy 
dark green canopies of a once suburban 
neighborhood now crowded both by houses 
and big plants. Long despised because of 
its pavement-raising propensities, the Aca- 
cia melanoxylon (Black Acacia) must stili 
be admired for its magnificent black-green 
rounded head so suggestive of cool shade 
on glaring summer days, its fissured black- 
gray trunk, and indescribable all-over tex- 
ture and form. Along this street, too, grow 
endless Avocados, Macadamias, an occa- 
sional Pecan, and one of the finest Bau- 
hinia variegta alba in Greater Los Angeles, 
the White Orchid tree (at its best in May), 
with kidney-shaped gray-green leaves and 
the thousands of flowers not unlike white 
Cattleyas. 
Our tour ended at Hollywood High 
School, one of the best landscaped schoo! 
grounds in Southern California, where the 
prize display is the Strelitzia Nicolai clump 
(Giant Bird of Paradise) near the Sunset 
entrance. Peering up at cluster upon clus- 
ter of boat-shaped navy blue and white 
flowers between the fans of paddle leaves, 
one realizes all over again that a spectacle 
like that is worth planting and waiting for! 
For a taste of the tropics, both literally 
and figuratively, we suggest for the gour- 
met-gardener, Carica candamarcensis, the 
mountain Papaya, a more hardy relative 
of the exotic fruit which occasionally graces 
our markets. Large, elaborately-cut, bright 
green leaves surmount the stems of this 
shrubby plant (possibly ten feet high by six 
across}, sheltering beneath them bundles 
of small acidulous fruits which, while not 
ideally eaten fresh, can be made into de- 
licious jam, stewed fruit, or, by means of 
a blendor, a beverage adjunct. And you 
may follow a tip from natives of tropic 
regions, by wrapping refrigerated meats 
in the tenderizing leaves prior to cooking. 
To leave the kitchen for the garden again, 
this native of Ecuador and Colombia pre- 
fers the warmer sections of southern Cali- 
fornia, where its base-forking stems of 
handsome foliage and interesting fruits 
complement home and palate in a_ truly 
tropical manner. ($1 and $4.50.) 
ges 
| am sure you love to watch those iri-_ 
descent and living jewels which flash and 
sweep and dart hither and thither in your 
garden. You want to attract them, to 
keep them coming, to induce them to 
nest and rear their young in your garden: 
so plant plenty of Fuchsias, particularly in 
these cool, coastal regions. Set them in 
rich soil and part shade, keep a good mulch 
over the ground all around the bushes, 
offer an occasional shower bath, and you 
will reap your reward. Positively nothing 
will give you more color and light and 
wealth of bloom over so long a period as 
will these plants. Under artificial lights at 
night the flowers in all their various shades 
and colors are especially attractive. 
When my family first came to Santa 
Monica almost forty-five years ago, there 
were two large bushes of Fuchsia virgata 
in an old garden there. These two bushes 
are still there, just as happy and healthy 
as ever. This is the Fuchsia with the small 
red and purple flowers, very hardy, blooms 
in full sun. In fact, this Fuchsia and its 
cousin, F. Magellanica, often called F. 
gracilis, actually bloom better in the sun 
than they do in the shade near the coast. 
A good plant of the tall growing F. Magel- 
lanica literally dripping with its graceful 
little flowers is a vision of delight. 
