The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1915-07-26
Some Beautiful Estates In Fla.


never seen any OF the Royal Palms in
Cuba attain TO either the height or
dimensions that wild or cultivated
specimens reach in Florida" And
so it is with many of magnificent
Towering trees such as the Royal
Poinciana, Jacaranda, Lagaerstrom-
ia, Bauminia, Cordia and others
which are quite as foriferous and
beautiful as in the lands from which
they have been brought.
Some weeks ago / received a let
ter from friend up in the State in
which the said, 81 do wish you
could have been with me last Mon
day, when my niece took me out to
Zellwood to see 'Sidonie,' the Laugh
lin estate. | did not dream that
there was such a place in Florida.
The house is large and beautiful of
course. but that was not wherein my
interest lay, as it is the out -of- doors
that always appeals to me. Immed-
lately surrounding the house on
three sides is the most beautiful for
NAL garden your mind could picture,
and mn this garden among dozens of
other plants were six varieties of en-
quisitely beautiful Azaleas in bloom,
several of which ] had never seen
before, and | am sure you would
have enjoyed them as much as I did.
There are green houses and slat-
houses filled with beautiful plants;
there are miles of drives and walks
bordered with privet hedges two feet
high, perfectly trimmed and all
around the house between the hedges
and walks are beds of blooming
plants. Down on the shore of the
lake is lovely pagoda boathouse
and japanese tea-house, with
beautiful vines covering them. AS
this estate is thirty years old. every
thing like trees shrubs and vines
have assumed tremendous proper
tions. AS there ae hundreds of
acres in this place it is under the
supervision of superintendent and
twenty-five workmen, several of
whom are constantly busy with ir-
rigating, which makes everything
look fresh and green. There were
dozen or more lovely rose gardens
full of flowers. Of course no one but
millionaire could keep up such a
place, as it costs not less than $4O,-
900 a year to run the estate"
| had hearu OF the Laugnlin place
before, its wonderful attractiveness.
that was designed by one of the
daughters of the house of Laughlin.
v was told about many rare Crotons
that were grown in tubs and crooks
and kept under cover during the
winter, as these plants are too deli
cate to stand thetemperature during
the coolest nights of the winter
months in that part of the State.
There are several large places over
on the East Coast in the vicinity of
Miami and Palm Beach that are old
enough to have attained almost ma
ture beauty, and many more are
right now in the bud. After our
Statewide network of good roads
becomes more universally connected
up, all these show places of Florida
will assume more Importance as they
keep adding to their collection of
rare plants, which the public can
not well be shut out from.
Over in California the greater
number of trees, shrubs and plants
are so well known to the average
northerner that they don't go out of
their way to see many of them, while
here in Florida can be gathered such
an infinite number of strange and
unknown plants that it will in time
become as great an event to visit
Florida to see its tropical vendure as
it would be to take trip to Ceylon
or the South Sea Islands.
| hope in the near future to see
Federated Women's Clubs of Our
Florida take up the matter of ac-
curing some natural beauty spots
that can be developed into magnifi-
cent public parks in years to come,
but just now they should make their
selections of such places while land
is cheap and before they have been
robbed of many of their natural
beauties. Florida has just as many
philanthropic and generour- hearted
men as other States and if once this
matter were agitated no doubt we
might have forthcoming a number
of such gifts that might be had for