Evening star., 1897-03-27


new varieties recently introduced from Cal
ifornia- Twelve or fifteep thousand rosa
bushes win BE- placed tfS summer. only
the hardest varieties hetng made use Of.
however. as experience haf shown that the
thrive in the parks under the scorching
breezes Of the hottest summer periods.
The Coming Season.
The parks this summer will be adorned
by an unusual number OF. tropical and sub
tropical plants. During the hot months
several giant palms that have never been
removed from the propagating gardens will
be placed In Franklin and Lafayette
squares. Coral plants will also be con-
spicuous in the park beds this summer.
They are SO called on account Of the big
clusters Of red flowers they bear. They
grow SO rapidly that they become small
trees In the course Of single season. An
other decoration for the parks this sum-
mer will be the Towering tobacco plant.
which has beautiful blossoms In great
spikes. This Towering tobacco plant is only
q cousin to the tobacco plant Of commerce.
In shady parts Of some of the parks the
genuine tropical plants will be noticed
pineapp!es. crotons. bananas. the arrow
root and the dumb cane and many other
varieties
In the parks that have fountains Public
Gardener Brown intends to plaintiff the
mere act of throwing them into the water
and peculiar varieties Of aquatic plants,
many of them only recently introduced
into the United States. People who dur
ing the past year or so have read those
strange tales Of how the water hvacinth
has so clogged up the rivers Of Florida as
to seriously interfere with and In some
cases entirely prevent their navigation by
steamboats,. owing to the thick resistance
they offer to paddlewheels, will this sum-
mer have a chance to see just what these
water hyacinths look like, for they are to
be placed in all of the fountain ponds
The work Of the park gardeners is by no
means over, in so far as 1t concerns the
park beds, when they have finished this
big task Of summer planting. The plants
and shrubs require constant attention, and
the gardeners wagons never cease their
fitting over the city during all OF the
summer months. But their great task of
the year-greater even than the planting
of the summer f1owers-is the removal OF
them from the beds to the propagating
gardens before the coming of the autumn
blasts.
Preparing for Winter.
Late in September the sensitive plants,
such as palms, ferns, crotons, roses and
tropical plants, are all carefully removed
from the parks and returned to the propa-
eating gardens to be housed for the win
ter, and, after these sensitive plants have
been thus taken care of, all the rest of the
summer plants. both of the Towering and
foliage varieties, are removed in the same
fashion. 1t IS not only necessary that
these summer plants should be housed for
their own preservation, but the beds In
which they are planted are needed for the
planting of the autumn and winter plants,
as. for instance, the hardy chrysanthe-
NUNS, which are planted in enormous num-
bers early in the fall, and the Towering
shrubs, the dainty little blossoms of which
make their appearance on the warm days
Of midwinter
When the summer plants have been re-
moved to the propagating gardens. cuttings
are made from the coleus and soft-wooded
plants to provide for the supply for the
following summer. Not all of these soft
wooded plants, which include great num-
Der and variety of geraniums, are removed
from the parks. They are given away, and
may be had by any citizen who asks the
park watchman for them, so that in Wash
ington 1t Is a simple enough matter to lay
in a supply Of household plants for the
winter at no other cost than that of potting
them.
The planting of the .chrrsanthemums is
done at the same time the crocus, tulip,
hyacinth and lily bulbs. ars placed in the
beds, the rugged autumn plants being set In
the same earth wherein burrow for the win
ter the dainty spring flowers that are to be.
In the fall months Washington presents in
its public parks a superb out-of-doors
chrysanthemum show. But fact of which
very few people in Washington seem to be
aware is that every autumn there is a
cnryS4ntne1num eXnlDltlOn at the prOpd-
eating gardens compared with which the
annual and much talked of ,chrysanthemum
| show at Madison Square Garden, in New
| York, is of very small Importance. This
display Of chrysanthenums every fall at
| the propagating gardens is said to be really
| the finest exhibition of the sort to be seen
| in the world. and it is free TO all.
In the matter of appropriating money for
| this splendid labor Of making Washington
horticultural elysiUm almost from one
years end to the other, Congress is ex-
ceedingly parsimonious. At the present
| time the amount allowed for the purpose
| is but little in excess of that allowed for
| the same work years ago. when there were
| less than half the number of reservations
| laid out and under cultivation. There is
| something rather singular in this fact, too
| when 1t is considered that during the winter
| seasons. when Congress is In session. the
| legislators a lot of money florists
| bills through the kindly aid of the propa-
eating gardens The acres of Towering
| plants there cultivated under glass furnish
| literally millions of blossoms. and of these
| senators and representatives in Congress
| get almost as many as they ask for. They
| are by no means slow in asking for them
| either, ard during the sessions the gardens
| wagons are kept pretty busy hauling roses
| violets, carnations and other exotics to the