_Last_, but not least, comes Alaska; even if last to arrive on the map
of the Union, yet not least in size of territory or in flowers, and with
still another condition of climate to be considered. Alaskan gardens are
as yet but tiny modest plots against the gray log cabins, suggesting the
homes of our Pilgrim fathers on the milder New England coast so long
ago, and as we think of the stone and marble pergolas in modern New
England, there comes the suggestion: "Then why not Alaska likewise some
day?"
To those who think of Alaska only as a land of snow and ice,
descriptions of its flower-surrounded log cabins seem like impossible
dreams. Quoting from Reverend Mr. Lumpkin's paper:
"In coming into Alaska, you first awake to the beautiful reality in
Skagway. This is the point where the White Pass road is taken to make
connection with the river boats for the interior. Your eyes rest upon
the wonderful fulfilment of the flowers and your crag-weary soul is
refreshed.
"Every growing thing in Alaska seems to exemplify the Alaskan spirit,
and that is to make the very best of bad conditions, and to make the
very most of the many good ones. With the dark winters and short
summers, every ray of sunshine has to be used, and when in the summer
the sun shines all day and nearly all night for three months, there is
no time for loafing in flower land.
"Just take a walk down through Fairbanks in July and you will begin to
think that wonders will never cease. You will see flowers, that at home
you had to coax and nurse into growth, here in radiant, luxuriant
masses. The Pansies are unusually large, whole borders of them, and
paths bordered with beds a foot wide, filled to the edges with
changeable velvet. Sweet Peas grow up to the tops of the fences, and
then, if no further support is given them, over they go, back to the
ground again. All summer the Nasturtiums climb nearer and nearer the
roofs of the cabins, and bloom and bloom in sheer delight. Some paths
are bordered with Poppies, big stately red and white, and white and pink
ones, or the golden California beauties. These natives of warmer climes
seem perfectly at home in the Northland. Asters scorn hothouses and grow
in profusion wherever they are planted, and wherever they are they are
beautiful. They are as large as the Chrysanthemums the Easterner
delights in, and of all the various changes of colors. By them, perhaps,
will be Dahlias as large and rich as any you have ever seen. The more
beauty-loving and flower-loving the owner of the garden, the longer you
will stay to look and wonder. Candytuft, Sweet Alyssum, and Mignonette
will greet you from their accustomed places on the borders of beds of
flowers, and you will almost smile at them as at some old-time friend.
Then you will see where some daring gardener has bordered the beds with
Phlox or Snapdragon, and you will feel compelled to admire the result.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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