Flanking the south side of the main group is the marvelous Avenue of
Palms, which appears to have existed always. It was established A. D.
1914, by John McLaren, Landscape Engineer, as part of the most colossal
system of successful transplanting ever undertaken in the history of the
world. The South Gardens adjoin the Avenue of Palms and extend to the
Exposition enclosure along the south boundary line, where a wall fifty
feet high and ten feet wide has been erected of a solid green moss-like
growth, studded with myriads of tiny pink star-like blossoms. This great
wall is perforated by simple arched masonry entrances, leading rough the
richly planted foreground formed by the South Gardens.
Basins of reflecting blue waters extend to the right and left of a
central fountain of colossal proportions. The basins themselves are
punctuated at their east and west ends by fountains of subordinate size,
back of which are Festival Hall to the right and the Palace of
Horticulture to the left, as we enter the green wall portals from the
city of San Francisco beyond. To the south and west of the Foreign
Countries, States Buildings and Gardens, a graceful contour of hills
extends, sloping onward to Golden Gate, and having a coxcomb of pine and
eucalyptus. Broad vistas of city, forests, water, hills and mountains
present themselves at every point. Gray, green, blue and lavender vistas
come into view through portal, colonnade, and arch.