A Walk Through the Fairchild Garden Nrxou Smrr,Pv
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t4 PRINCIPES [Vol. 11 bulrushes and the spirits sink soddenly gling with typewriter, scissors and low, I like to gaze upon this intrepid paste-pot. But at the same time, I dare botanist, this indomitable man radiat- hope that others will cotton to old Ek- ing a kind of ferocious determination man, too. There are two ways of look- and patently capable of performing his ing at him. One way is to admire his tasks despite any odds. That is the dogged determination so greatly that a only excuse for his presencein these yearning arises to emulate him and to pages: I have put him there just to be found in those same circumstances. pleasemlself, iri lieu of any cash re- The other is to thank one's lucky stars compense for this temporary descent not to be in his boots. Both ways are into journalism, that is to say, for eminently satisfactory, depending upon wheedling copy from authors and strug- how one looks at it. A Walk through the Fairchild Garden Nrxou Smrr,pv Accompanying photographs by the author. "green." My wife and I never tire of walking who thought all palms were through the Fairchild Tropical Garden Some are so stately, so graceful, it is on a sunny day when a blue sky and a difficult to {ind anything else in nature few cottony clouds form a background [o eomparewith them. for the hundreds of palms in the botan- But whatever category a palm falls ical garden's large collection. into, I've never seen one that was so In a sense,it is like a visit to many objectionableI wanted to dig it up and tropical lands, for here are the palms toss it out becauseof its ugliness.There's of the world. Here an admirer of this beauty even in the scrub palmetto { Sa- great family of plants can seeduring an bal Etonia). If you have ever seenex- hour's stroll as many speciesas he would tensive colonies of this deep-green, be able to discover on a voyage taking trunkless palm growing on the floor of him thousands of miles across oceans a leafless hardwood forest in north and through the jungles, savannasand Florida during the winter you will never plains of the tropics. forget it. Several years ago a visitor, inspired Everyonewho walks through the Fair- by the collection, referred to the palms child Tropical Garden must enjoy its as the 'ogarden'scrown jewels," They plant collectiorisfrom his own viewpoint. are that, and more. They are living The botanist will have his own interests. jewels - if one finds it necessaryto He classifies the palms as he strolls make such a comparison- of fantastic among them. He notes the shapes of forms. leavesand the sizesand forms of flowers. The great variation in palms never The horticulturist is interested in how ceasesto surpriseyou. Someare scrubby they are grown. It pleaseshim to see "jewels." and could hardly be classedas a plant grown well, displeaseshim to Some are of unusual {orm, even bizarre. see a sickly specimen. Some are colorful - a surprise to those The landscape architect will see the 1. Speciesol Latania in the left foreground, royal palms (Roystonea regia) on the right. garden from still another viewpoint. If ter acquainted with the palms, I am not he knew the architect who designedthis a botanist and therefore know the gen- garden, William L. Phillips, he would era and the species only in a superficial admire the way the plants are grouped; way. For instance, I know the difference the vistas which permit you to view the between a Sabal and a Pseudophoenix, plants from a distance, before you ap- a Rhapis and a Chamaedorea, a Roy- proach them for a close-up view. And stoned and, a Heterospathe, a Caryota the landscape architect will study the and an Acrocomia; and I know the dif- palms as individuals, as candidatesfor ference between a l/eitchia and an Ar- some {uture landscapejob. chontophoenix. But don't ask me how I "botamze" Being none of these, I take a non- know. I could not the differ- specializedview of the palm collection, ences between these palms. enjoying it in a very generalway. While If I belong to any classification, I'm I like to read the labels and becomebet- a horticulturist. I do know when a palm PRINCIPES lVol. Il is in splendid condition; when it is well ducks which, in the winter months, are grown. I like to seea splendidly grown seenin rafts on the lowland lakes. The plant, one which is adapted to the soil lakes are also popular places for coots and the climate and shows it by its and Florida gallinules. Alligators are thrifty response. Many of the nearly sometimesseen sunning on the banks. 3,000 speciesof palms in the world are Two rare birds are frequent visitors, not adaptedto Florida. Many hundreds the Guatemala oriole and the smooth- of speciesdo thrive in the FTG, though. billed ani. The oriole is one o{ the most And, I'm not counting those which have colorful birds in Florida, while the ani' been in the ground only a couple of a black bird somewhat larger than a years, but refer to the species which grackle, is of particular interest to a have been planted long enough to have bird-watcher anxious to add another "life survived frost, monsoon-like rains and name to his list of birds seen'" long droughts. From time to time the big green and Many of the palms have been in the yellow macaws from the Parrot Jungle, collection since the garden was started about one-half mile distant, fly over to in 1938. These older specimensmake the Garden and squawk at you from splendid background for the palms that the tops of trees or palms. They like have been planted since. Some of the particularly to congregatein a gumbo- young ones are coming along rapidly. limbo tree and snip off the tips of In time they will take the places of the branches with their sharp beaks. I've older specimensowhich fall prey to di- seen people standing about beneath the o'ohs" "ahs" seasesand insects,and, in rare instances, tree as they express and as to lightning. they watched with upturned faces the Writing this, I find myseli thinking antics of the huge birds. along the lines that I think ds I walk My wife and I have formed the habit through the Garden, except the walk is of taking a route through the Garden leisurely and relaxed and anything that that we seldomvary {rom, especiallythe falls into view is seen and sometimes beginning. We turn right just after en- commented on. There are always dif- tering the main gate, taking a hard- ferent palms in flower or {ruit. The topped road which the tram usesfor the flower clusters can be spectacular in guided tours. size and form. And no other plants have Immediately on our left after we make more colorful fruits than some of the the turn is the large, red-trunkedgumbo- palms. limbo tree which the macaws like, and But there are more than palms in the just beyond is Plot II0 in the Fairchild botanical garden. Many kinds of trees, Tropical Garden's Catalog of Plants. shrubs and vines grow here. The hard- Here are speciesof Mascarena,Pseudo- topped road takes you through upland phoenix and the triangular-shaped.Veo- and lowland areas,past vistas and over- dypsis. In this plot there oncewas a fine looks, through rock gardens, flowering specimenoI lubaea, the Chilean honey- tree collections, cycad collections, vine palm, but it was lost to disease. collections,past lagoons and lakes. On the right is a narrow plot, between The Gardenis a bird sanctuaryas well the road and the stone wall, containing as a plant sanctuary. Bird-watchersare a variety of palms, including a number frequent visitors, early'of a morning us' of native Sabal Palmerro which volun' ually. They bring their binoculars to teered. Thesesabals have been growing study the birds in detail, especiallythe here since the time the Garden was 2. A plot containing sundry speciesof Thrinax and Coccothrinax. started. They form a shade and a palms do provide a quality which would 'obalance" screen, as well as a in the be a great esthetic loss if they were landscapedesign. removed. Some years ago, while I was director From here the stroll offers an increas- of the Garden, we proposed to remove ing variety of palms - speciesoI Butia, these native palms and replace them Washingtonia, Latania, Copernicia, Ai- with speciesof more valuableintroduced phanes, [/eitchia, Licuala, Thrinax, palms. But the landscapearchitect, Mr. Coccothrinax, C hamaer ops, Caryota, Ac- Phillips, was against it. He thought it rocomia, Phoenix, Dictyospenna, Or- "awkward would leave an hole" while bignya, Attalea, Ptychosperma, Liuis- the young palms were growing up. Such tona, Corypha, Arenga, Hrphenae, are the problems of landscape design, Cocos. and a good reason for having the guid- In an opening, at the bottom of a ance of a landscapearchitect. For these swale,is a group of four kinds of coco- PRINCIPES [Vol. l1 i 3, Four different varieties o{ the coconut palm, Cocos nucilera. nut palms - the Malay orange, Malay an authority on Cuban plants. He was yellow, Malay green and common coco- a long-time friend of Dr. David Fair- nut. Along the route, too, is a Veitchia child, for whom the Garden is named. Montgomeryana, named.by Dr. Harold He attempted to collect the seeds of E. Moore. Jr., in honor of the founder every Copernicia in Cuba.