THE FIRST 80 
(Continued from front page) 
many parts of the world and a center of 
interest for students in this field. Trips were 
made to the South Sea Islands in search of 
exotic material and plants from literally 
every part of the globe were brought here 
to Santa Monica to be grown and evalu- 
ated to test their suitability for Southern 
California conditions. Evans Gardens, as it 
was then known, came to be recognized as 
probably the most notable private botanic 
garden in the west. 
In order to disseminate economically all 
this material and make it available for Cali- 
fornia gardeners, it was inevitable that the 
enterprise would sooner or later have to be 
commercialized; so in 1935, Mr. Evans 
formed a partnership with Mr. Jack W. 
Reeves, formerly of the Beverly Hills Nurs- 
eries, and thus was born Evans & Reeves 
Nurseries at the present location. The pres- 
ent organization is carrying on the same 
tradition of seeking out and introducing 
meritorious plants suitable for our condi- 
tions. 
It is rather startling to realize that so 
many of the things that we take for granted 
in our gardens, we owe to the enterprise 
of this one man. To list them all would take 
pages, but some of the most familiar would 
be the Princess Flower, Tibouchina semi- 
decandra; the Powder Puff Flower, Calli- 
andra inaequilatera; the Geralton Wax 
Flower, Chamaelaucium uncinatum; many 
of the Bougainvilleas, Hibiscus, Coral trees 
and dwarf Eucalypti; in all, over a hundred 
new additions to western gardens. 
The esteem in which he is held by other 
horticulturists is attested to by the number 
of plants that have been named after him 
by other growers; a Fuchsia, a Cymbidium 
Orchid, a Sasanqua Camellia and just re- 
cently, a new Bougainvillea. In 1951, he 
was awarded the Silver Trophy of the Cali- 
fornia Association of Nurserymen for horti- 
cultural merit. 
The making of gardens is for him still the 
tinest of all pursuits and he himself quotes 
as an indication of his philosophy the fol- 
lowing lines from Francis Bacon: ''God 
Almighty first planted a garden, and in- 
deed it is the purest of human pleasures; 
it is the greatest refreshment to the spirit 
of men; without which, buildings and pal- 
aces are but gross handy-works; and man 
shall ever see that, when ages grow to 
civility and elegance, man comes to build 
stately, sooner than to garden finely; as if 
gardening were the greater perfection." 
Rhyme in Season 
Take your bow and take your arrow, 
Little guy with happy eyes, 
Span the earth just like a sparrow 
From your vantage in the skies. 
In this age of turbulation 
When greed seems to domineer, 
You can strengthen world relation 
And make unrest disappear. 
Shoot the young and shoot the old ones, 
With your missiles from above, 
Shoot the timid and the bold ones, 
Spreading universal love. (amet 
Winter Wonder 
To lead off with we'll admit that Tern- 
stroemia japonica is not a rare plant — for 
one thing, it's been in cultivation for at 
least a hundred years — but we've been 
watching a selected group of "'red'’ seed- 
ling plants which have qualities much supe- 
rior to the type, and unlike many garden 
dependables, these Ternstroemias are really 
at their very best right now. The colder it 
gets the better they look! 
The special virtue of these seedlings lies 
in the beautiful mahogany red color of the 
foliage, infinitely more attractive than that 
of the normal Ternstroemia. A good crisp 
block of these plants in gallon containers 
has so caught our eye every time we pass 
that we felt Brpelles to bring them to 
your attention. 
Ternstroemia japonica is an evergreen 
shrub of moderate size and growth with 
glabrous (glossy) oval leaves about two 
inches long by half as wide, and curious but 
uninspiring blossoms. It is a cousin of the 
commercial tea plant and the botanist 
whose name it commemorates died two 
hundred years ago. 
Ternstroemia is no problem child for the 
garden—not cranky about exposure or soil, 
no special tricks are involved in its succéss- 
ful culture. Only $1.50 for these cold season 
gems which in the winter make most other 
plants look unhappy by comparison! M.E. 
