G2,09 ; 
Hugh Evans’ < 
There is a story told of a Scot- 
tish miner who went into a draper's 
shop in the old country to buy a 
neckerchief: the attendant showed 
him some which were all green or 
blue. The customer exclaimed, ''Na 
na, | want none o' your gaedy col- 
lors, just gie me plain reid and 
yaller.' 
There is blooming on our 
grounds now a really beautiful tree 
or shrub, though the flowers are 
not gaudy or plain red or yellow, 
but white suffused with blush. I+ 
is between I5 and 20 feet high 
and loaded from top to bottom 
with large trusses of white flowers, 
which against the translucent blue 
vault of the sky makes one of those 
pictures not easily forgotten. This 
fine plant has good evergreen foli- 
age, no bad habits, often blooms 
twice a year, is a reasonably fast 
grower, increasing each year in 
stature and beauty, and has been 
known to us as ''Dombeya calan- 
tha,’ a native of South Africa. 
There is a question as to the valid- 
ity of the specific name, so we 
are waiting for a certain distin- 
guished botanist of infinite re- 
sourcetulness to rechristen this 
charming immigrant. Let us hope 
the name will be as melodious as 
the subject is beautiful. 
Trees or shrubs which are prod- 
igal with their flowers at this time 
of year are few and far between, 
and for that reason to be all the 
more admired and desired. | think 
that no one who has seen this 
charming shrub in all its beauty 
has failed to fall in love with it, 
indeed to gaze up at it was in it- 
self an inspiration. 
It is passing strange that this 
plant is not more often encoun- 
tered. | imagine it may be hard 
to come by, though this should 
not be the case as 
Erom fairest creatures we 
desire increase 
That thereby beauty's rose 
might never die.’ 
OM ORL a2 
Copusoter (beoeves 
Ses 1 
of Agriculture 
(a) 
' | 4 
VOR JANUARY, 1953 NO. 9 
The Bare Bear Fair 
Deciduous Oriental Magnolias have long been 
placed among the aristocrats of any garden, the 
world around. There's a strong, clean beauty in 
the smooth gray leafless boughs along which in 
late winter the great furry buds open suddenly 
into saucer-like flowers of wine and cream-colored 
satin. Among the most unusual of plants, they are 
considered by many botanists to be the most 
primitive of all flowering plants. 
This year we are offering a very rare variety 
of the Chinese MAGNOLIA, DAWSONIANA, 
a species that is found only in one small section 
in Sikang in western China. This plant in time grows 
into a small tree, well branched from the ground 
up and in the early spring, while bare of leaves, 
every branch is clothed with giant bowl-shaped 
flowers seven inches and more across, of light 
pink suffused with purple, spreading from the base 
of the flower. The leaves upon appearance are 
(Continued on inside page) 
