Gardens
Edison's botanical garden contains more than a thousand varieties of plants from around the world, including African Sausage Trees and a 400-foot (120 m) banyan tree given by Harvey Firestone in 1925. It was originally an experimental garden for industrial products. Later Mrs. Edison gave the garden an aesthetic turn with plantings of roses, orchids and bromeliads.
At present the collections include: Acalypha hispida, Arenga pinnata, Artocarpus heterophyllus, Billbergia spp., Blighia sapida, Bougainvillea glabra, Bougainvillea spectabilis, Calliandra haematocephala, Cananga odorata, Cattleya hybrid, Cattleya spp., Chorisia speciosa, Citrus spp., Clerodendrum speciosissimum, Cordyline terminalis, Cycad spp., Dendrobium, Dombeya spp., Epidendrum ciliare, Ficus auriculata, Ficus benghalensis, Ficus saussureana, Hibiscus schizopetalus, Holmskioldia sanguinea, Ibosa riparia, Ixora chinensis, Kigelia africana, Leea coccinea, Malvaviscus arboreus, Musa spp., Parmentiera cereifera, Plumbago auriculata, Solandra nitida, Spathoglottis plicata, Tabernaemontana corymbosa, Tecoma stans, Thunbergia erecta, Tibouchina semidecandra, and hundreds more.
Read more about this topic: Edison And Ford Winter Estates
Famous quotes containing the word gardens:
“The ocean is a wilderness reaching round the globe, wilder than a Bengal jungle, and fuller of monsters, washing the very wharves of our cities and the gardens of our sea-side residences. Serpents, bears, hyenas, tigers rapidly vanish as civilization advances, but the most populous and civilized city cannot scare a shark far from its wharves.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“If I could put my woods in song,
And tell what’s there enjoyed,
All men would to my gardens throng,
And leave the cities void.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Typical of Iowa towns, whether they have 200 or 20,000 inhabitants, is the church supper, often utilized to raise money for paying off church debts. The older and more conservative members argue that the “House of the Lord” should not be made into a restaurant; nevertheless, all members contribute time and effort, and the products of their gardens and larders.”
—For the State of Iowa, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)