More Early Landscaping With Cute Kids, circa 1922

I have a couple more pictures from the Tsanoff collection that were clearly taken on the same day that we caught young Katherine on the path between the privet hedges. This first one caught me by surprise:

That’s little Katherine and her older sister, Nevenna, in the hedges. But . . . but . . . those aren’t our hedges. On closer inspection I think I see those strange shrubs here, in the very middle:

I dug around a little more and found an even better shot:

And there seem to be some similar plants in front of the Administration Building:

I’m no horticulturist, though. Does anyone know what they are?

The second photo isn’t mysterious at all. It’s a lovely image of one of those beautiful planters that I’ve admired for years:

 

And that’s one heck of a bow on Nevenna!

Bonus: Some things change and some things don’t. Here are some bricks from the construction of the Ralph S. O’Connor building that is replacing Abercrombie.

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16 Responses to More Early Landscaping With Cute Kids, circa 1922

  1. almadenmike says:

    The Fall 2003 Cornerstone (Rice Historical Society / https://scholarship.rice.edu/bitstream/handle/1911/88920/RiceCornerstoneFall2003.pdf) features an article about Rice’s legendary early gardener, Tony Martino, that includes this:

    >> One of his more memorable efforts was the enormous hedge of cape jasmine in the quadrangle. This was an integral part of the Rice campus from the early days and up into the 1950s. As a happenstance, they were always in bloom at graduation time and generations of Rice graduates will remember their pungent odor while the graduation ceremonies were taking place.<<

  2. Texas SPQ says:

    The cape jasmine/gardenias on campus may explain my mother’s (’51) love of that aroma. For those craving a similar perfume, plant some confederate jasmine/star jasmine on a fence or trellis. It’s quite close. I’ve been told there is some slight difference between the star and confederate jasmine varieties, but I think you need to be a horticulturist to differentiate the two.

    • Gardenia has a much more powerful sweet odor than the Confederate star jasmine. There is the story, of course, that the damyankees stole most of our sweet smell.
      (Actually I just made up that story, so do NOT bother googling it.)

  3. I believe the children’s mother used the same size bowl for their haircults as my Mom did.

  4. Jeff Ross says:

    I have a brick from Old Wiess College provided by Malcolm Gillis. I assisted the College in weighing the salvage/repair and replacement options.

    I’d show it but don’t know how to copy it into the reply.

  5. Texas SPQ says:

    Melissa, where are those beautiful planters? I do not recall ever seeing them.

  6. There appear to be several of those planters in the cypress rows in both photos. The cypresses did not appear to be very healthy even then.

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