Two years before the Exposition was to open McLaren built six
greenhouses in the Presidia and a huge lath house. There he assembled
his shrubs, his plants, and his bulbs. In all he must have used nearly a
million bulbs. From Holland he imported seventy thousand rhododendrons.
From Japan he brought two thousand azaleas. In Brazil he secured some
wonderful specimens of the cineraria. He even sent to Africa for the
agrapanthus, that grew close to the Nile. Among native flowers he
collected six thousand pansies, ten thousand veronicas and five thousand
junipers, to mention only, a few among the multitude a flowers that he
intended to use for decoration. The grounds he had carefully mapped and
he studied the landscape and the shape and color of the buildings
section, by section.
The planting of trees consumed many months. The best effects McLaren
found he could get by massing. He was particularly successful with the
magnificent Fine Arts Palace, both in his groupings and in his use of
individual trees. About the lagoon he did some particularly attractive
planting, utilizing the water for reflection. There was a twisted
cypress that he placed alone against the colonnade with a skill that
showed the insight and the feeling of an, artist. On, the water side,
the Marina, he used the trees to break the bareness of the long
esplanade. And here and there on the grounds, for pure decoration, he
reached some of his finest effects with the eucalyptus, for which he
evidently had a particular regard. As no California Exposition would be
complete without palm trees, provision was made for the decorative use
of palms along of the main walks.
About two weeks before the opening, the first planting of the gardens
was completed, the first of the three crops to be displayed during the
Exposition. The flowers included most of the spring flowers grown here
in California or capable of thriving in the California spring climate.
In June they were to be re-placed with geraniums, begonias, asters,
gilly-flowers, foxglove, hollyhocks, lilies and rhododendrons. The
autumn display, would include cosmos and chrysanthemums and marguerites.