Lilacs in California

"Our efforts in behalf of Lilacs may be attributed to the splendid work of Mr. W.B. Clarke of San Jose, noted hybridizer of spring flowering shrubs and trees. It was he who developed the three excellent varieties pictured above."

Whither are the Palms Bound?

Here you can see that there were still palms languishing

along the Avenue of Palms as the buildings came crashing down.

San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco, California) ·
Sun, Apr 16, 1916 · Page 29 

(newspapers.com) 

Everyone knows that the palms came back to Niles from the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, right? But where is this written? I've searched for years for some record or news article that talked about it.

The Exposition ended on December 4th, 1915. The palms were still there four months later. The water pipes were removed in the spring of 2016. A plea to the community to save the palms was made in October 2016. After a summer with no water? And then still there a year later. 

Is there any truth to the palms "coming home"? Or is it fakelore, a story that people made up and people like to hear.

Why wouldn't it be equally interesting to know where they actually went after the Exposition? 

Coffee Pot and Silk Hat are Legacies

January 12, 1915, Los Angeles Herald

Under the Dome, Palace of Horticulture

From Frank Morton Todd, Story of the Exposition, volume 4, p. 310
The Cuban flag has a triangle and 5 stripes, seen here.

"Just how to treat the area under the dome so that the huge void should not look meaningless and vacant was at first a puzzle, especially as some features designed by the Chief of the Department for that purpose had to be pruned out of the estimates, for economy. But Cuba, eager to show her appreciation of the aid of the United States in her difficulties a few years back, applied for the space, and came forward with 14 carloads of trees and plants that turned it into an emerald jungle of strange, giant California vegetable forms never seen in this region. There were cocoanut trees, and Royal and Cocos palms, lifting tall shafts from which

they stretched their fronds over a billowy sea of ferns and tropical lilies. There was the curious mycrocycus a tree-fern a thousand years old. There were bamboo palms, breadfruit and banana trees, mangoes, guanabano, dates in bearing, and the finest specimens of crotons with\ their broad, variegated leaves, ever shown in this country. These strange and exotic things, all living under the huge glass bubble, thriving vigorously, and exhaling a moist, earthy tropical scent, established the sylvan atmosphere of the Palace and gave it a haunting and fairy-like charm." (p. 312)

Palms in the Japan Garden

From San Francisco Public Library

What kind of palms were in the Japan Pavilion garden? Or are these cycads?

The California Fan Palm 1887

THE TWIN PALMS IN LOS ANGELES.

From the Pacific Rural Press, December 17, 1887.

"Our indigenous palm, one of the most striking native plants of the State, gave the botanists some trouble in classification. First it was Prichardia, then a Brahea, and finally it has found botanical rest as Washingtonea filifera. Its native area along the Colorado river was thrown open to the public by the building of the Southern overland route, and is now a comparatively familiar country. Long ago, however, seeds were brought from this region and plants were established which have now grown to grand size, while the facts of their introduction have become a matter of tradition. The twin palms shown in the engraving which are growing within the limits of Los Angeles city, are perhaps the oldest and largest cultivated fan palms in the State. They are probably upward of 50 years old. The tourist who enters Los Angeles from the east by the Southern Pacific sees them upon the left side of the railway just before the station is reached; in fact, the buildings shown in the lower lefthand corner of the picture are those of the railway. These palms are a landmark for the tourist, and their photographs are in great request. They are now being encroached upon by the buildings, and may fall before the progress of the day, but we trust they will be spared as long as possible.

Nurserymen Bookshelf

California Association of Nurserymen

• First meeting      1911 Photo of participants, Los Angeles, November, in PRP
• Second Meeting 1912 1912, Oakland
• Third Meeting    1913, Fresno
• Fourth Meeting  1914, San Diego
• Fifth Meeting     1915, San Francisco, August 12-14, at the California Nursery Co.

Pacific Nurserymen

• 1911, San Jose, June 21-23
• 1912, Tenth, Salt Lake City, June 4-6, GR is abroad