Evening star., 1921-05-13
WASFfINGTON'S NUMEROUS PARKS
PUTTING ON THEIR SUMNER, GARB
Flower Beds Being Set Out Under the Per-
sonal Supervision of Charles Henlock,
the White House Gardener.

Washington. the model city with
any other city in the world. is now
getting her new summer wardrobe
The flower beds are being set out un-
der the personal supervision OF Mrs.
Hardings gardener. Charles Henlock.
who is in direct charge OF the White
House greenhouses and propagating
gardens. under the general super
vision Of Lieut. Col. Clarence O. Sher-
rill. engineer officer in charge OF pup
lie buildings and grounds.
There are about twelve large parks
and thirty circles or reservations IN
the northwest section of the city and
four parks and thirty reservations on
Capitol Hill. These require about
100000 Towering or foliage plants
all of which come from the White
House propagating gardens.
Work of planting these flower gar
dens began this week. and the inten-
ton is to have them all in f1rst-class
condition by Decoration day. That
means about three-week job for ten
men planting. and this same force
will be busy all summer keeping the
displays in proper condition.
One Of the first parks to be fixed
up will be Lafayette Square. just
across the street from the White
House. and here the beds will be prin-
cipally of red and yellow cannas. the
new red Gamma named "The President"
predominating.
Throughout the city the beds are
being planted with cannas, SALIVA,
ageretum, vinca, begonia, heliotrope
for Towering plants and with fonage
and border plants Of alternanthera,
centaurea, pennesetum. acalypha, So
leus in a variety Of colors and euony-
mus.
Designed by Artists and EnEineern.
beds catch the eye, many, If not most.
of the hundreds of thousands who find
delight in these parks-coming from
all over the country--do not realize
why they find them so beautiful. 1t is
because they represent the highest
type of landscape gardening, and each
is designed by artists and engineers
working together to combine the
esthetic with the utiltarian or prac-
teal.
Irving w. Payne is the landscape
architect in charge of drawing plans
for these parks after consultation
with the Fine Arts Commission and
they are then approved by Lieut. Col.
Clarence o. Sheriff.. the engineer OFF,
Ger in charge. F. F. Gilen then takes
charge of executing these plans. He is
manager of the enterprise. He also
has charge Of planting trees and
shrubbery. laying sidewalks and sew
ers and caring for the lawns. Then
comes in Charles Henlock and plants
seasonal flower beds which give the
finishing touch to the parks as a place
of recreation for the people.
The work now in progress repre-
sents the change from the bulb plant
ing made last fall, which filled the
parks with tulips, hyacinths and mar
cissus during the spring. to the an
ruals, which will last through the sum-
mer.
Monthly blooming Roses.
The officers in charge are also try
ing out a new system of not changing
some of the beds, by making perma-
nent paintings of monthly blooming
roses, SO that there will be no sea-
sonal hiatus. but the beds will be al
ways beautiful There are four Of
these beds now in Farragut Square
and much more of this work is
planned.
The landscape architects and engi-
neers are now busy principally in the
development of East and West Poto-
mac parks especially about the Lin
coin Memorial and the building Of a
great rejecting basin. The oldest
trees ever moved in this country are
being planted about the Lincoln Me-
mortal These are box bushes (Buxus
Sempervirens). One Of these is tWen-
ty-three feet long. thirteen feet high
and thirteen feet wide. 1t had to be
moved in three balls, weighing a to-
tai of twenty tons, and had to be
moved five miles.
The most attractive floral display in
the parks at this time is rhododen-