Featured Plants
Bougainvillea (boo-gen-vill-e-a)
This native of South America grows as a vine or sprawling shrub. It is evergreen in subtropical climates, semi-deciduous in cooler areas. Leaves are oval, tapering at the tips, and slightly fuzzy. Sharp thorns grow at the bases of the leaf stalks. It is the bracts which provide the plant's bright colors, which include reds, oranges, pinks and white.

At Hearst Castle Bougainvillea is trained to grow on the exteriors of all three guest houses. It also grows on the central balustrade of the South Terrace and on the south exterior of the Roman Pool.

The genus was named for the French navigator, Louis de Bougainville, 1729-1811.

It was introduced to Europe from its native Brazil by Spanish explorers and is now commonly associated with Mediterranean architecture. It is highly drought resistant.

W.R. Hearst personally purchased some plants for the San Simeon gardens from a nursery in Santa Barbara in 1920, including two magenta Bougainvillea at $1 each. Julia Morgan planned early on to include Bougainvillea on the exteriors of A and Casa Del Montes. Correspondence from W.R Hearst to Morgan on Feb. 11, 1921 started, "Would like south side of A to be mass of beautiful bougainvillea(sic) visible from the bay side."

Oleander
This plant grows as an evergreen shrub or small tree to as much as 20 feet tall. Leaves are up to 12 inches long, narrow and pointed, dark green and leathery. Flowers are 1.5-2.5 inches wide with five petals tilted like pinwheels. Clusters of flowers appear from May through October. It is a member of the periwinkle family and native to the Mediterranean region.

Some varieties have fragrant flowers, and both single (five petals only) and double (ruffled) flowered varieties are available. Flower color can range from white to pink, salmon and red and occasionally yellow.

At Hearst Castle Oleanders were used abundantly in the gardens of the Enchanted Hill from the early 1920s. The Pergola driveway features Oleanders specially trimmed into multi-trunked trees which appear to grow from leafy vases. Norman Rotanzi suggested this to Mr. Hearst before he left the hilltop in 1947. He later recalled Mr. Hearst approving this special treatment of the Oleanders from photographs he reviewed from Beverly Hills.

All plants of the Oleander family are poisonous. They will flourish and bloom in the hottest arid climates, but will not tolerate areas with frequent frosts. The name 'oleander' refers to the leaves' resemblance to those of the olive, while the genus name, Nerium, is the Greek name for the plant.


Begonia boliviensis
The botanist and monk Charles Plumier is credited with the discovery of begonias in Mexico in the 1690s, although credit is also given to Father Hernandes' work. Rerum Mediacarum Novae Hispanae Thesaurus, published in 1694, contained a picture of a plant with the Mexican name Totonocoxoxo Coyollin, which was undoubtedly the begonia, according to Worth Brown in Tuberous Begonias: A Complete Guide for Amateur and Specialist.

Plumier named the plants in honor of Santo Domingo's Governor, Michel Begon, a representative of Louis XIV and later a governor of French Canada. Begon was a patron of botany and the sciences, but he may never have known the plant Plumier named for him. Plumier discovered the plant on the botanical expedition on the Antilles in 1690. Begonias did not arrive in England until the mid-1700s. They became popular nearly a century later, when more species, including Begonia boliviensis, arrived at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, from tropical parts of America and from both the East and West Indies.

These new arrivals were displayed at flower shows in London and Paris and became popular Victorian houseplants, particularly in hybrid forms.

In the language of flowers, popular in Victorian England, the begonia came to symbolize dark thoughts. The plant could also send the message, "Beware. I am fanciful," an allusion to the showy, feather hybrid forms. From A Contemplation Upon Flowers by Bobby J. Ward and Women's House.

At Hearst Castle this variety is seen in a concrete planter pot at the corner of the Esplanade at Casa Del Sol.

Norm Rotanzi remembers Mr. Hearst having 6,000 begonias planted in the spring. Two of the greenhouses were for display of the begonias. The other three were regular propagating houses, used to raise annuals.

Mr. Hearst wrote on September 21, 1932, to head gardener Louis Ressing: "There is no mention of begonias in this list; but just in passing I want to say that I have not been entirely satisfied with the begonias this year. The effects and the variety and proportion of extra beautiful flowers do not seem to have been as satisfactory as on previous years. I think a great deal of pain ought to be taken in ordering the begonias to be sure to get the right ones, just as we should take pains with the other things I have mentioned. I notice the same thing about the gladiola. You simply order ten thousand gladiola. It does not seem to me that that is the way to order these flowers. We should carefully select the most beautiful ones and some of the new varieties, with the idea of getting color effects and getting exceptionally beautiful specimens. I have cut down the number of gladiola to five thousand."

Dahlia
Dahlias form their flowers in what botanists consider the highest development, Composate. Hundreds of simple disc flowers are arranged in a center, surrounded by a border of ray flowers, which attract bees and butterflies for pollination. Each disc flower is complete in itself to form a seed. Dahlia seeds do not have hooks on them, but the seeds disperse easily.

They grow readily from seed or can be propagated by tubes carried over the winter in a cool place. They grow as bushy plants with dark green foliage and large flowers in brilliant shades of yellow, orange, red, lavender, purple and white. Gardeners' stories of 'My Largest Dahlia' are as common as fish stories.

At Hearst Castle Dahlias are located along the stairs next to Casa Del Monte, in the bed behind the Main House next to the Esplanade, and many other locations in the gardens and its pots.

Mr. Hearst frequently mentioned Dahlias in his correspondence with Miss Morgan. In 1926, he wanted "a fine showing of dahlias" and suggested those he had seen at the Los Angeles Dahlia Show. The ones he saw there were "much finer than any we have. I wish you would have the gardener (Fred Macklin) get the best dahlias." In 1928, he wrote: "I do not think we are anywhere near sufficiently supplied for the fall and winter. We should have a very glorious assortment of dahlias."

P.G. Wodehouse, one of the writers who visited Mr. Hearst on the hilltop, populated his more than 90 novels with lively characters typical of English Edwardian society. Bertie Wooster's batty Aunt Dahlia edited the weekly, Milady's Boudoir, for which Bertie once wrote an article on "What the Well-Dressed Man is Wearing."