Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-09-06
BLOOMING HILLS
Floral Wealth of Highlands of
California.
GARDENS OF THE SIERRAS
Multi Colored Plant Life Among
Granite Heights and Snowy
Mountain Tops.
From the Craftsman.

From the Craftsman.
The hanging gardens of Babylon, ia
nous examples of mans skill in garden
ing, are not to be compared for beauty
with the wild gardens of the Sierra
Babylon's gardens and parks are said to
nave covered nine-tenths of the whole
Kingdom Herein lies the only basis Of
comparison: for surely nine-tenths of the
ground OF the Sierra is pre-empted by
hover colonies. The rocks even are
often velveted with Towering lichens and
MOSES. Lichens. the smallest and most
daring of all the vegetable kingdom,
venture into the highest places and paint
the rocks with pastel grays. browns
green's. even with vermillion and bright
yellow. They, the pioneers Of the plant
world. prepare the soil for the more ten
der MOSES. grasses and trees They
cling to granite that even water cannot
smooth. They multiply. spread, die,
blending with the fine particles of gran
lite disintegrated by the acid secreted in
their roots. Thus thin, meager soil is
formed in which MOSES can exist, in
slightly deeper, richer soil where tiny
towering plants find a footing. In this
manner, far up on the tip-top places of
the Sierra, the wonderful stream of flow
ers Is started on its way. cascading down
the steep slopes, swirling aside in color
ful Whirls and quiet pools. dashing on
ward again in increased torrents, aug
mented by many another little stream
OF color, spraying the nearby rocks with
saxifrages and spreading out finally into
DOGGY, sphagnum meadows. where grow
gentians, lilies and countless other plants
and blooming grasses
One of the greatest joys of a summers
trip to our Sierra vacation parks is the
tracing Of this exuberantly Towering tor
rent Of plant life to its source. beginning
with the dry foothills. wading knee deep,
even plunging over our heads into the
fragrant stream, up, UP to the snow
coroneted peaks where little Alpine flow
ers like dewdrops nestle under q rim of
dripping ice. in the lee of a glittering
snowbank. in the shallow crevices of a
rock. To start from the level of the sea,
as I did. from Monterey, and to climb
slowly up into the sky to a height of
nearly 1900 feet, the top of Mount Whit
ney. Is to have passed almost every flower
that blooms in California. Terrace after
terrace was reached where hung wild,
tangled gardens Of every description A
hundred times we came upon the spring
as we mounted higher and higher. On
the 23d of August We passed a bed of
bluebells. then waded through a deep
snowbank and stepped on the topmost
pinnacle OF rock that rises like carved
fgurehead above the prowlike peak of
Mount Whitney breasting the granite
waves of the Sierra range. Below my
feet in a sheltered nook bloomed tiny
magenta flower rayed like the sun. It
looked so sweet, so trustful, so childlike
thing amid the giant peaks all about
that above them all 1t claimed my at.
tention. The little plant seemed more
sentient. greater thing than those ire
mendous pinnacles. The forbidding
mountains made me tremble with awe;
the flower put me to ease.
From Strand to Mountain.
In that memorable walk from the shore
OF the sea, where sand verbenas trailed
to the summit of the highest peak in all
our land, where the Alpine heather
blooms close to the ground, / wandered
through many hanging gardens and so
can bear testimony to their incompatible
beauty and infinite diversity. found
gardens on old mOraines, In dried lake
basins. In Sequoia forests. Doggy mead
taluses at the foot of towering cliffs
harbored brilliant rock gardens. Flow
ers even chung, l know not how, to the
sides of sheer precfpitous walls. Around
every turn of every trail some new. won
derful flower form greeted my searching.
eager gaze.
All the roads leading out to the main
low valleys into the Sierra are fringed
with myriads of flowers, back of them
stand the shrubs. back Of these the trees
holding aloft exquisitely delicate and
fragrant blossoms. At all seasons some
kinds of flowers are in bloom. The way
into the Businesses Of these mountains is
surely a pleasant one. Lupines, poppies,
irises, sweep over the foothills, rushing
in tides into the coves, splashing against
jutting rocks dripping with numerous
foamlike flowers. Mariposas lift long
stems above the fields Of blue and gold
brodiaeas climb and Irvine over every
thing.
Procession Of the Flowers.
One Of the charms of California is it's
floral procession. Spring Is always at
work somewhere, embroidering the earth
with flower garands. Last August on
the way to the Yosemite valley l found
at Crane Flat thick. plushlike carpet
of pink and white pussy's-paws. At Gin
Flat the carpet was of yellow violets
mimulus. cyclamen. Tamarack Flat was
white with gilias. Bleeding hearts fledged
the rushing stream yellow lupines with
rose cOlored wings were all about. while
under the ledge OF rocks were beds of
pink penstemon. As We mounted higher
still toward the rim of the valley we
saw masses of azaleas forming margins
along the streams, pink mimulus reveal
ing the hiding place OF a spring. Wall
flowers cleaned from the coverts of the
wood. In the hanging gardens of fir
cedar and pine forests we found lanterns
Of the fairies, the modest. nunlike pip
sissawa, waxen clusters of Pyrola picta.
fiesh-colored wands OF pine drops and
coral root, the flaming snow plant, past
its prime. but still bright. White Wash
ington lilies occasionally reared their
candelabra above the violet Uncovered
evergreen squaws carpet. dogwood
Frightened the dark aisles, wild lilac
mimicked the sky, manzanita bells hung
in countless chimes. All these are ia
miliarly known as spring flowers in the
valleys.