WRITINGS BY KATE O. SESSIONS
The following is an annotated bibliography of magazine and journal articles and book chapters authored by Kate O. Sessions.
The entries are alphabetical by the name of the article or chapter.
Sessions, Kate O. (About Cycads) California Garden 21:4 (Oct.1929): 3.
Sessions guided a world cycad expert from the University of Chicago around San Diego. The sago palm, or Cycas revoluta, is the most commonly found, but several unusual specimens were also growing in San Diego.
Sessions, Kate O. “Acacia Baileyana.” California Garden 1:4 (Oct. 1909): 5.
Advises on pruning the Acacia baileyana and discusses Liberty Hyde Bailey, professor of agriculture at Cornell University and namesake of the tree.
Sessions, Kate O. “The Acacia Season.” California Garden 29:9 (April 1938): 5. Reprinted: California Garden 68:2 (Mar.-Apr. 1977): 54.
Specifies care for several varieties of acacia trees commonly grown in San Diego.
Sessions, Kate O. “Acacias.” California Garden 4:9 (Mar. 1913): 13.
Acacia baileyana is touted as the outstanding survivor of a Winter frost. Other acacias are rated for their cold hardiness and bloom.
Sessions, Kate O. “Acacias.” California Garden 28:9 (Mar. 1930): 14.
Sessions identifies 40 varieties of acacias growing in San Diego and recommends others that should be tried.
Sessions, Kate O. “Acacias.” California Garden 22:8 (Feb. 1931): 8.
San Diego is showing an impressive variety of acacias. February through April is prime bloom time and the best opportunity to select a variety. Sessions has grown a rare species, Acacia dietrichlana from seed.
Sessions, Kate O. “Acacias.” California Garden 23:5 (Nov. 1931): 8.
Fall-blooming acacias are identified.
Sessions, Kate O. “Acacias.” California Garden 28:9 (Mar. 1937): 2.
Blooming patterns and other characteristics of a dozen varieties of acacias growing in San Diego are described.
Sessions, Kate O. “Acacias.” California Garden 31:6 (Dec.1939): 4.
Every acacia tree must be properly staked when planted.
Sessions, Kate O. “Accent Points of the Lecture.” California Garden 17:10 (Apr.1926): 3.
Sessions heard Alpine specialist, M. Henri Correvon of Switzerland describe mountain plants and their successful propagation from seed and saw his colored slides of blooming Alpines. His seed catalog is analyzed for the varieties suited to San Diego. Sessions includes a long list of alpine plants with notations on which are already being grown successfully in San Diego.
Sessions, Kate O. “Agathis Robusta.” California Garden 28:1 (July 1936): 5.
Praise for a beautiful tree from New Zealand, commonly called the Kauri pine.
Sessions, Kate O. “The Age of the Edinburgh Botanical Garden.” California Garden 18:5 (Nov. 1926): 3.
San Diego should take inspiration from the Edinburgh Botanical Garden. Although quite old, its development as a center of botanical and horticultural research has occurred in just 30 years. San Diego has the opportunity to develop a fine cactus garden in Balboa Park to advertise the city.
Sessions, Kate O. “Aloes and Allied Plants for Southern California Gardens.” California Garden 15:1
(July 1923): 8-10.
Focusing on the match of San Diego’s climate to the ideal growing conditions for aloes and other succulents, Sessions urges young people with horticultural interests to specialize in commercially growing them to supply collectors. While ten varieties of aloes are under cultivation in San Diego, “we should have fifty.”
Sessions, Kate O. “Amaryllis.” California Garden 1:3 (Sept. 1909): 9-10.
The varieties and best techniques for growing amaryllis are described.
Sessions, Kate O. “Apricots,” West American Scientist 7:63 (Oct. 1891), 268-269.
The cultivation of apricots in the San Diego region is discussed.
Sessions, Kate O. “Arecastrum Romanzoffiana.” California Garden 28:5 (Nov. 1936): 5.
Illustrating the slow movement of botanical information, and her academic interest in botanical nomenclature, Sesssions traces the naming history of the palm she first knew and promoted in San Diego as Cocus plumosa. It had been described and given that name by W. J. Hooker in 1860 from a Kew Garden specimen. Hooker was unaware that the same palm had been described and named Cocus romanzoffiana in Brazil 38 years earlier.
Sessions, Kate O. “Arrival of a New Flower.” California Garden 18:10 (April 1927): 3.
David Fairchild of the U.S. Department of Agriculture supplied Sessions with four different rare flower bulbs gathered in Morocco, one lot of which was blooming in her new Soledad Terrace Garden in Pacific Beach when this article was written.
Sessions, Kate O. “At the Exposition.” California Garden 6:9 (Mar. 1915): 7.
A report on the plants in bloom at the Exposition grounds (Balboa Park).
Sessions, Kate O. “An Attractive Feature.” California Garden 23:14 (Aug. 1932): 6.
A brief critique of the landscaping along the Coronado streetcar line.
Sessions, Kate O. “The August Flower Garden.” California Garden 1:2 (Aug. 1909): 2-3. Reprinted in facsimile issue: California Garden 50:2 (Summer 1959): 2-3.
Practical tips on watering, pruning, and staking a variety of summer bloomers.
Sessions, Kate O. “Australian Plants.” California Garden 21:7 (Jan. 1930): 4.
Discusses a new publication, Australian Plants, by W. R. Guilfoyle of the Melbourne Botanical Gardens and identifies Australian plants being cultivated in San Diego.
Sessions, Kate O. “Autumn Colorings.” California Garden 25: 4-5 (Nov. 1933): 11.
Although Southern California will never have abundant Fall foliage colors, a few vines, succulents, and other plants offer seasonal color.
Sessions, Kate O. “Autumn Crocus.” California Garden 24: 8 (Feb. 1933): 6.
A brief request for information from gardeners who have tried fall-blooming crocus bulbs.
Sessions, Kate O. “Azaleas and Rhododendrons.” California Garden 24:9 (Mar. 1933): 5.
Sessions uses a long quote from a Pasadena nursery to describe the best conditions and methods of cultivation for azaleas.
Sessions, Kate O. “Bamboos.” California Garden 1:5 (Nov. 1909): 12-13.
Sessions introduces bamboo to San Diego gardeners.
Sessions, Kate O. “Bamboos.” California Garden 26:3 (Sept. 1934): 7.
Several varieties of bamboo are described and tips on growing and dividing them are offered.
Sessions, Kate O. “Barberries.” California Garden 19:6 (Dec. 1927): 7.
Sessions comments on an earlier California Garden article on berried shrubs listing some varieties that will not flourish in San Diego.
Sessions, Kate O. “Berried and Flowering Plants Recommended for San Diego County Planting.”
California Garden 16:6 (Dec. 1927): 4.
Sessions, Kate O. “Bignonia Chamberlaynii.” California Garden 23:4 (Oct.1931): 5.
A Brazilian vine that blooms for six months of the year is common in Hawaii, but only recently arrived in California and San Diego.
Sessions, Kate O. “Bignonias and Bauhinias.” California Garden 24:3 (June 1932): 5.
A vine and vining shrub are described as “interesting, rare and good looking.”
Sessions, Kate O. “The Bird of Paradise.” California Garden 21:4 (Oct. 1929): 3.
“In June 1925, I sent home from Paris 18 Stelitzia reginae or Bird of Paradise seed and 12 grew . . . .”
Sessions, Kate O. “A Brief Appreciation of a Noted Botanist.” California Garden 16:12 (June 1925): 9.
A remembrance of Townshend Stith Brandegee, leading California botanist. Sessions recalls her plant collection trip to San Jose del Cabo with Brandegee and the “good garden” the Brandegees established while living in San Diego.
Sessions, Kate O. “Buddlejas.” California Garden 19:7 (Jan. 1928): 6.
A dependable purple flowering shrub is described, with some details of the introduction from China of one of its varieties.
Sessions, Kate O. “Bulb Fields of San Diego.” California Garden 24:10 (Apr. 1933): 3.
Commentary on the beauty of the blooming commercial bulb fields of Carlsbad, Encinitas, and Vista.
Sessions, Kate O. “Bulbs for Rainless Winters.” California Garden 3:8 (Feb. 1912): 4.
With appropriate selection of bulbs, flowers and garden color can be present, even without the usual level of rain.
Sessions, Kate O. “Cacti and Other Succulents.” California Garden 12: 5 (Nov. 1920): 10,12.
The private garden of H. E. Huntington has probably the best cactus and succulent collection in the United States. “It would be possible for San Diego to have even a finer collection . . . it is only a matter of time and interest . . . .” Several species are described.
Sessions, Kate O. “Cactus Display Planned for Exposition.” California Garden 26:8-9 (Feb.-Mar. 1935):4.
The cactus garden will be the first open ground, year-around cactus display in the United States and perhaps the world.
Sessions, Kate O. “A Cactus Find.” California Garden 9:12 (June 1918): 10.
San Diego could be a world center for the study of cactus. A local species, Cereus emmmoryi, has attracted interest from Canada and Cuba and should be preserved and studied. At the very least, the city park should include a cactus garden.
Sessions, Kate O. “A California Christmas Card.” California Garden 20:7 (Jan. 1929): 4.
Along with seasonal greetings, Californians may proclaim the joys of year-around gardening when writing to friends in other climates.
Sessions, Kate O. “California Plants at Cape Town.” California Garden 28:6 (Dec. 1936) 1.
The Superintendent of the National Botanic Garden at the Cape of Good Hope reports that two native San Diego plants, Ceanothus cyaneus and Fremontia mexicana, are blooming. They were grown from seeds supplied by Sessions who in return received Gardenia thunbergia from South Africa.
Sessions, Kate O. “Calliandra Californica Grows Wild at Cape San Lucas, Lower California.” California Garden 26:10 (April 1935): 8.
Three plants are discussed, including the year around bloomer Calliandra californica.
Sessions, Kate O. “Camellias.” California Garden 28:9 (Mar. 1937): 8.
Sessions urges the planting of more camellias and specifies the best planting conditions.
Sessions, Kate O. “Care of Pools and Water Lilies.” California Garden 18:8 (Feb. 1927): 5.
Instructions on the care and propagation of water lilies are given, along with suggestions for plantings around a garden pool.
Sessions, Kate O. “Care of Trunks of Palms.” California Garden 3:1 (July 1911): 13.
As they grow, palms can become unattractive with their attached dead fronds, but the trunks can be transformed into attractive ferneries or supports for ivy and other vines.
Sessions, Kate O. “Cassias.” California Garden 23:4 (Oct.1931): 12.
Alfred D. Robinson has introduced the most gorgeous Cassia variety yet seen in San Diego, but the perpetually blooming Cassia tomenta is perhaps more practical for many gardens because of its small growth habit.
Sessions, Kate O. “The Casuarina.” California Garden 18:5 (Nov. 1926): 3.
This Hawaiian import is represented in San Diego only by young trees, but reports indicate that it will do well in this climate. Only when older does the tree “show its strong characteristics and its individuality.”
Sessions, Kate O. “Ceanothus Cyaneus . . . Finest Species of Native Wild Lilacs.” California Garden 26:12 (June 1935): 4.
Sessions recounts the finding (by Myrtle Philbrook) and botanical naming and publication (by Alice Eastwood) of a San Diego native lilac growing above Lakeside. She notes its successful garden cultivation in Rancho Santa Fe, Point Loma, and in South Africa (from seeds she supplied to a botanical garden).
Sessions, Kate O. “The Chile Soap Bark Tree.” California Garden 22:1 (July 1930): 10.
Remembering the Quillaja saponaria growing on her university campus at Berkeley, Sessions secured two trees in 1915 that, despite neglect, grew into healthy trees and bloomed beautifully. She recommends this species as a street tree for San Diego.
Sessions, Kate O. “Chilean Jasmine.” California Garden 25: 1 (July 1933): 10.
The Mandevillia suaveolens jasmine has abundant and attractive large white flowers.
Sessions, Kate O. “Choice Foliage for Decorative Use.” California Garden 24:7 (Jan. 1933): 9.
Cocculus laurifolius, Coprosma, and Genista monosperma are recommended for their beautiful and long-lasting cut foliage.
Sessions, Kate O. “A Choice Vine.” California Garden 26:5-6 (Nov.-Dec. 1934): 8.
Bignonia lactifolia is a free-blooming climbing vine that is sensitive to frosts.
Sessions, Kate O. “Chorizema Ilicifolum.” California Garden 20:7 (Jan. 1929): 10.
Sessions warns that this colorful winter-blooming shrub will grow quite large and does better in partial shade or north-facing locations.
Sessions, Kate O. “Chrysanthemums,” The Great Southwest, 6:51 (June 1894), 11.
A short piece on the importance of pinching back chrysanthemums for the best bloom. [The Great Southwest was a monthly journal published in San Diego.]
Sessions, Kate O. “Clinging Vines.” California Garden 25: 6 (Dec. 1933): 2.
The best varieties of vines for San Diego gardens are listed and described.
Sessions, Kate O. “Color Planting for Pacific Coast Gardens.” Garden Magazine 32 (Dec. 1920): 205-8.
Describing Southern California Gardening as still in its infancy, Sessions sets out a planting guide for three climatic coastal zones based on color: yellow, blue, red, pink, and white flowering plants are identified.
Sessions, Kate O. “Crinum Moori.” California Garden 1:3 (Sept. 1909): 10.
Describes the vine Vitis rhombifolia and the Crinum moori, resembling a belladonna lily.
Sessions, Kate O.“Date Palms.” California Garden 17:6 (Dec. 1925): 3.
Describes the various date palms that grow well in San Diego, giving the endorsement of famed architect Richard Requa for the compatibility of the variety Phoenix reclinata with Spanish-style buildings. An addendum discusses the ever-blooming shrub, Solanum rantonnetti and the visit of Charles F. Eaton of Santa Barbara.
Sessions, Kate O. “December Gardening.” California Garden 1:6 (Dec. 1909): 5-6.
While December is not the best planting month, there are various preparatory jobs that can be accomplished in the garden.
Sessions, Kate O. “A Desirable Vine--The Sky Flower. California Garden 18:5 (Nov. 1926): 3.
s is a choice evergreen vine that grows rapidly and produces beautiful lavender blue flowers.
Sessions, Kate O. “Dollars Will Sprout if Properly Planted and Faithfully Cared For.” California Garden 15:4 (Oct. 1923): 14-15.
Sessions praises the expenditure of $120 to plant 100 trees near Old Town San Diego. “The slogan ‘plant another tree’ that is being spread over the U.S. these days has a tremendous value for San Diego . . . . “
Sessions, Kate O. “Dombeya Wallichii.” California Garden 20:9 (Mar. 1929): 16.
This fast-growing Madagascar native produces large pendants of pink flowers. It may be grown as a small tree or a large shrub.
Sessions, Kate O. “Drainage: Physical Condition of Soil Important Factor.” California Garden 26:5-6 (Nov.-Dec. 1934): 4.
Years of plant growing experience in San Diego has impressed upon Sessions the importance of good drainage for plants, but home builders rarely consider the viability of the soil when siting a house.
Sessions, Kate O. [Author name misprinted as R. O. Sessions] “Drought Resistants.” California Garden 25:12 (June 1934): 7.
Specific plants that withstood and flourished in a very dry winter season are identified. Wider planting of bougainvilleas and Prunus ilicifolia, a native wild cherry, is urged.
Sessions, Kate O. “Early Flowering Bulbs.” California Garden 23:8 (Feb. 1932): 3.
Brief paragraph listing various bulbs that will bloom from January through April.
Sessions, Kate O. “The Early Roses.” California Garden 22:2 (Aug.1930): 8,13.
Sessions lists numerous old roses she has grown in San Diego and reviews the history of rose importation to England from China, early rose cultivation in the American colonies, and the development of the tea rose.
Sessions, Kate O. “The El Monte Oaks.” California Garden 20:8 (Feb. 1929): 1.
The creation of El Monte Oak Park is memorialized. After logging of the old oaks was observed in 1919, a preservation movement was mounted. The El Monte Ranch Company offered to sell the oak grove with 55 acres of contingent land. The County Board of Supervisors agreed to purchase the land if the San Diego Floral Association would provide improvements for community use. Funds were raised and by August 1922 various improvements were completed. In January 1923, the County Supervisors assumed full financial responsibility for the park. When Henry Correvon, an Alpine specialist of Geneva, Switzerland, visited San Diego, he was asked to advise on the feasibility of developing a rock garden on a hillside near the oak grove. He found conditions ideal. Sessions calls upon the Floral Association to undertake the work of building a world class rock garden to rival those at Kew Gardens and the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens.
Sessions, Kate O. “Encinitas Flower Show.” California Garden 22:9 (Mar. 1931): 6-7.
Hugh Evans of Santa Monica receives high praise for showing a unique collection of cut flowers, only a few of which were known to the “best informed” visitors at the flower show. The varied colors of the ranunculus also caught Sessions’ eye.
Sessions, Kate O. “The Enclosed Garden.” California Garden 26:4 (Oct. 1934): 6.
Suggestions are offered for constructing garden walls and appropriately landscaping them.
Sessions, Kate O. “English Plantain--A Serious Pest.” California Garden 24:1 (July 1932): 7.
Methods for eliminating persistent and rapidly spreading weed are presented.
Sessions, Kate O. “Eucalyptus Erythronema.” California Garden 23:2 (Aug. 1932): 5.
Only four examples of this flowering tree are know to be growing in San Diego, but it shows promise of becoming popular if it can be successfully propagated from seed.
Sessions, Kate O. “Evergreen Pear.” California Garden 21:11 (May 1930): 16.
Foliage shown at a Floral Association meeting was identified by the Coolidge Rare Plant Gardens of Pasadena as Pyrus kawakamii and called a handsome plant of artistic style.
Sessions, Kate O. “Exposition Cactus Garden.” California Garden 27:5-6 (Nov.-Dec. 1935): 1.
Reports on gifts to the Exposition Cactus Garden and the Agave and Aloe garden in Balboa Park. Hybrid aloes were sent by William Hertrich, Superintendent of the Huntington Botanic Gardens. Sessions recommends the wider growing of aloes in San Diego.
Sessions, Kate O. “The Fall Flower Show.” California Garden 25:3 (Sept. 1933): 2.
Various flower displays at the 17th Annual San Diego Floral Association show are discussed. Sessions ranks this as one of the best ever shows, but calls for better labeling to make the show educational, as well as enjoyable. She escorted a visitor from the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard University to the show.
Sessions, Kate O. “The Fall Flower Show.” California Garden 28:3 (Sept. 1936): 2-4.
A candid review of the 30th San Diego Floral Association Fall flower show, which had a strong dahlia exhibit and “feebly presented” asters. The Navy contribution was of good quality.
Sessions, Kate O. “A Famous Christmas Tree or New Zealand’s Christmas Tree.” California Garden 24:6 (Dec. 1932): 4.
A resident of Chula Vista saw a blooming native tree (Metrosideros tomentosa) during a visit to New Zealand and asked Sessions to obtain it. Inquiries to New Zealand nurseries went unanswered, but Sessions ordered seed for the tree from Vilmorin & Company in Paris and obtained some plants from Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.
Sessions, Kate O. “The February Garden.” California Garden 1:8 (Feb. 1910): 7.
Weeding and planting are encouraged and the best blooming plants in the county--as sighted by Sessions--are described.
Sessions, Kate O. “Ferneries for the Garden.” California Garden 1:7 (Jan. 1910): 5-6.
Directions for building an artistic garden fernery are offered, along with a large selection of possible ferns to plant.
Sessions, Kate O. “Ferns from Spores.” California Garden 23:5 (Nov. 1931): 15.
The delicate business of propagating ferns is detailed in a few short paragraphs.
Sessions, Kate O. “A Few Desirable Shrubs.” California Garden 24: 9 (Mar. 1933): 5.
Chinese holly, the Oregon grape, and the white blooming native Ceanothus verrucosus are all recommended.
Sessions, Kate O. “Floral Association Opens Rosecroft Lathhouse.” California Garden 15:2 (Aug. 1923): 1-2, 14.
Sessions thoroughly reviews the contents of Alfred D. Robinson’s lath house (200 varieties of begonias), invoking the name of USDA official Dr. David Fairchild who had visited the display in 1919 and commented on the perfection of the climatic conditions and impressive progress of Robinson as a begonia hybridizer.
Sessions, Kate O. “Floral Association Visits Dorland and Kahn Gardens. California Garden 19:4 (Oct. 1927): 1.
Two very different gardens are described, including an example of successful canyon-side planting.
Sessions, Kate O. “Floral Association Visits Rosecroft Begonia Gardens.” California Garden 20:4 (Sept. 1928): 4.
High praise for Alfred D. Robinson’s begonia display at Rosecroft Gardens. His artful example should encourage wider use of the lath house in San Diego.
Sessions, Kate O. “Floral Association’s Picnic.” California Garden 27:12 (June 1936): 6.
Sessions comments on various plantings in Mrs. Amy Strong’s Garden in Ramona. In the visit she was accompanied by guest Miss Katherine Jones of the University of California horticulture department in Berkeley.
Sessions, Kate O. “Flower Shows in England.” California Garden 23:4 (Oct.1931): 8.
After a friend’s comment that “California is 100 years behind [England] in putting on a flower show,” Sessions observes that California horticulture is in its infancy and simply needs to build a longer experience of established nurseries and skilled gardeners, as well as an interested and discerning public.
Sessions, Kate O. “Flowering Acacias.” California Garden 25: 8-9 (Feb.-Mar. 1934): 2. [Note: article is unattributed but exhibits Sessions’ familiar style.]
About 150 members of the Floral Association visited Sessions’ garden to see eight varieties of acacia trees. Advice on acacia cultivation is given.
Sessions, Kate O. “Foliage for the Grey Garden.” California Garden 31:3 (Sept.1939): 4.
Recommending grey foliage plants as garden specimen, Sessions suggests several choices of varying sizes and habit.
Sessions, Kate O. “For December.” California Garden 21:6 (Dec.1929): 5.
Sessions observes that 25-30 years are required to test the growth and habit of a tree and that native trees generally have a longer life than exotics. She recommends the Incense Cedar and California Live Oak for every garden with sufficient space.
Sessions, Kate O. “From the Files: Placing of Trees and Shrubs.” California Garden 39:3 (Autumn 1948): 7-8.
KOS gives expected growth rates and sizes for some popular San Diego plantings and urges planning in the placement of items that will grow rapidly in San Diego. “[L]et us have less lawn and more beauty by carefully placing plants so they have room for full development and a long life.”
Sessions, Kate O. “Frost Resistant Plants.” California Garden 28:7-8 (Jan.-Feb. 1937): 2.
Stating that a list of plants that can survive a freeze should be maintained by every gardener; KOS mentions several plants that did well in a rare San Diego freeze.
Sessions, Kate O. “Fuchsia News.” California Garden 22:2 (Aug. 1930): 10.
While in the Bay Area, Sessions attended, along with Alice Eastwood of the California Academy of Sciences, a meeting of the American Fuchsia Society where confusion about the identity of various plants was evident. Sessions and Eastwood were drafted to serve on a classification and nomenclature committee.
Sessions, Kate O. “Fuchsias.” California Garden 21:12 (June 1930): 15-16.
Sessions lists more than 25 varieties of fuchsia growing in San Diego and gives instructions for shaping a fuchsia bush into a small tree.
Sessions, Kate O. “The Future Lawn?” California Garden 18:8 (Feb. 1927): 7.
Sessions appealed for information from readers and announced her own experiment with Washington Creeping Bent Grass, stating that its attributes convinced her to plant a lawn for herself for the first time.
Sessions, Kate O. “The Garden Magazine: Publication Twenty-eight Years Old: Contains Pertinent Information. California Garden 26:11 (May 1935): 11.
In reviewing past issues of California Garden, Sessions observes, “San Diego County has a great horticultural opportunity before it.”
Sessions, Kate O. “Gardens Visited by Floral Association on August 10th.” California Garden 22:3 (Sept. 1930): 5.
A detailed description of an early Pacific Beach garden owned by Mr. and Mrs. Fred Scripps is provided. Sessions concludes that “a generous planting of shade trees on some portion of every home lot,” especially large lots, should be undertaken.
Sessions, Kate O. “General Garden Operations for February.” California Garden 6:8 (Feb. 1915): 15.
Remarking on the abundant rains, Sessions recommends many plants for early Spring planting and garden projects that might be undertaken. A number of rose varieties are listed.
Sessions, Kate O. “Geralton [e.g., Geraldton] Wax Flower.” California Garden 28: 7-8 (Jan.-Feb. 1937): 4.
Newly available commercial flowers for the winter months are described. For the first time the Geralton [Geraldton] wax flower was being grown in San Diego for holiday shipping. “San Diego needs to get busy in this interesting trade [of commercial flower growing].”
Sessions, Kate O. “Gopher Bait.” California Garden 23:4 (Oct.1931): 3.
Sessions recommends the use of poisoned pear slices to bait gopher traps.
Sessions, Kate O. “Grevillias.” California Garden 23: 7 (Jan. 1932): 11.
Sessions is familiar with five of the 57 species of Grevillia, four shrubs and the well-known tree, Grevillia robusta, that should not, in her opinion, be rejected because of its leaf fall.
Sessions, Kate O. “Ground Cover for Shade.” California Garden 17:6 (Dec. 1925): 2.
In place of grass in shaded areas, Sessions recommends the planting of the “charming an curious little plant Helxine soleirolii.”
Sessions, Kate O. “Ground Cover Plants for Southern California.” Garden & Home Builder 46 (Dec. 1927): 354-3.
Sessions, Kate O. “Hakea Laurina.” California Garden 27:7-8 (Jan.-Feb. 1936): 2.
Numerous Hakea shrubs from Australia are grown in San Diego, but the Hakea laurina is one of the best.
Sessions, Kate O. “Hakeas.” California Garden 23:11 (May 1932): 16.
Six species of the genus Hakea from Australia are growing well in San Diego, so some of the other 47 types should be tried. New species recently have been introduced to the United States by the Department of Agriculture.
Sessions, Kate O. “Hakeas . . . Varieties Grown in Southern California.” 26:7 California Garden (Jan. 1935): 4.
Hakeas are Australian natives that grow almost nowhere in the United States except Southern California. Sessions describes four varieties growing in San Diego.
Sessions, Kate O. “Hardenbergias.” California Garden 21:9 (Mar. 1930): 8.
A desirable vine and a hardy shrub from this Australian family of plants are recommended.
Sessions, Kate O. “The Hibiscus.” California Garden 21:6 (Dec. 1929): 5.
Fifteen varieties of hibiscus are seen in San Diego. Sessions reports on the many other varieties growing in Hawaii and recent imports from those islands.
Sessions, Kate O. “Hibiscus in San Diego.” California Garden 4:6 (Dec. 1912): 6-7.
Sessions favors the large single red hibiscus for general cultivation in San Diego, but mentions several others, including specific examples growing in local gardens.
Sessions, Kate O. “Highway Beautification.” California Garden 23:7 (Jan. 1932): 6.
City and county highways can be beautified with plantings of Pride of Madeira (Echium fastuosum) and certain varieties of ice plant.
Sessions, Kate O. “Highway Planting.” California Garden 24:12 (June 1931): 1.
The construction of a new highway entrance into San Diego, including the causeway road connecting Crown Point with the mainland, offers an opportunity to create an attractive introduction to the city. Specific suggestions for the appropriate use of trees and Mesembryanthemums (ice plant) are offered. Sessions criticizes the poor maintenance and botched pruning of earlier roadside plantings.
Sessions, Kate O. “Hints on Planting.” California Garden 3:2 (Aug. 1911): 12.
Sessions, Kate O. “History of the Cherokee Pink.” California Garden 25:10-11 (Apr.-May 1934): 5.
Sessions recounts a history supplied in 1908 by a Redlands, California, grower. The Cherokee pink rose was introduced in Germany, tried unsuccessfully in England, and finally shipped to California where it showed its vigor and beauty.
Sessions, Kate O. “Holiday Colors . . . For San Diego Gardens.” California Garden 30:6 (Dec. 1938): 1.
Along with a few Florida locations, San Diego gardens can make the nation’s best showing of bright flowering plants in December and January. Several plants are recommended.
Sessions, Kate O. “Horticultural Facts.” California Garden 29:2 (Aug. 1937): 7.
Sessions shares information about plant introduction in the U.S., based on her reading. She describes E. W. Wilson’s collecting trips to China and her 1925 meeting with Wilson. Sessions received rhododendrons collected by J. F. Rock from the U.S. Bureau of Plant Introductions and some of those plants were placed in Balboa Park.
Sessions, Kate O. “Horticulture.” In History of San Diego County, Carl H. Heilbron, editor-in-chief. San Diego: San Diego Press Club, 1936, 280-86.
Sessions contributed to this collected history a description of geography, growing conditions, and plants in San Diego County, mentioning specific imported plants and her own nursery. She discusses new types of plants placed in the Hotel del Coronado courtyard (p. 280) and her planting of many new tree varieties in City Park after 1892 (p. 281). “This county can become a veritable botanic garden when every resident appreciates the real value of its horticulture possibilities” (p. 286).
Sessions, Kate O. “Hugh Evan’s Rare Plants.” California Garden 23:8 (Feb. 1932): 6.
Flowering branches of several unusual plants were exhibited at the Floral Association meeting, including several species from Australia. “The late E. H. Wilson . . . said there were over 2,000 good plants [in Australia] that should be growing [in San Diego].”
Sessions, Kate O. “Ice Plants, New and Old.” California Garden 25: 8-9 (Feb.-Mar. 1934): 7.
The 400 species of mesembryanthemums have been reclassified into a dozen new genera, many of which are promising as ground covers in Southern California and offer a greater abundance and variety of flowers than the typical ice plant grown in San Diego.
Sessions, Kate O. “In Plant Society.” California Garden 9:2 (Aug. 1917): 13.
New construction and several local gardens are reviewed. A new deciduous vine sent from Prof. Charles Sargent at the Arnold Arboretum, Sargentodoxa cuneata, is growing well.
Sessions, Kate O. “In ‘Reminiscence and Commemoration’ by ‘Oldtimers.” California Garden 31:1 (July 1939): 8-9.
On the 30th anniversary of the San Diego Floral Association, Sessions offers some advice to members: (1) review the worthy content of past issues of California Garden; and (2) help the Association become a stronger voice for civic improvement.
Sessions, Kate O. “In the Back Country.” California Garden 6:1 (July 1914): 11.
A Floral Association outing to Hulburd Ranch spots 92 varieties of wildflowers without effort and surveys the natural woodlands surrounding Cuyamaca Lake.
Sessions, Kate O. “An Interesting Acacia . . . .” California Garden 27:5-6 (Nov.-Dec. 1935): 5.
The Acacia pendula has silvery, drooping foliage that dries well and is useful for florists. The tree rivals the attractive silver tree.
Sessions, Kate O. “Interesting Palms.” California Garden 30:4 (Oct. 1938): 2.
Three varieties of Erythea palms growing in Balboa Park are described, with a full story of the Erythea brandegeei grove, “the only cultivated large group of this palm in the world.” Sessions participated in introducing this lower Baja species to the United States, grew large numbers of the palms from seeds, and planted the grove in Balboa Park. This article also announces a name change for Sessions’ favorite palm: Cocos plumosa was reclassified as Arecastrum romanzoffianum (and is today known as Syagrus romanzoffiana).
Sessions, Kate O. “Items of Interest.” California Garden 8:2 (Aug. 1916): 9.
Two trees are recommended. Eucalytus ficifolia can be seen blooming around the city in its many colorful shades. A newer tree from China, the evergreen elm, is proving to be a grower in San Diego.
Sessions, Kate O. “Jacaranda Ovalifolia or Mimosaefolia.” California Garden 19:1 (July 1927): 8.
Sessions, Kate O. “The January Garden.” California Garden 1:7 (Jan. 1910): 4-5.
If the rains have come and the soil is very wet, there is little garden work to be done, but conditions are ideal for planting.
Sessions, Kate O. “Jasmine as Hedge Plants.” California Garden 23:9 (Mar. 1932): 14.
Sessions objects to information in a previously published California Garden article recommending four varieties of jasmine for hedges, saying that two have inappropriate growth patterns.
Sessions, Kate O. “The July Flower Garden.” California Garden 1:1 (July 1909) 2. Reprinted in facsimile issue: California Garden 50:2 (Summer 1959): 2.
Practical advice on planting and appropriate garden maintenance work.
Sessions, Kate O. “The July Out-of-Doors Meeting.” California Garden 13:2 (Aug. 1921): 8.
Reporting on a Floral Association visit to a Chula Vista garden, Sessions observes “San Diego offers the best opportunity in the United States for an out-of-door life . . . .”
Sessions, Kate O. “June Planting Notes.” California Garden 6:12 (June 1915): 12.
Sessions comments on the gardens of some new San Diegans, giving special praise to those who preserved natural shrubs on their land and planted low-water succulents and cacti.
Sessions, Kate O. “K. O. S. Goes to Honolulu.” California Garden 18:1 (July 1926): 1.
Sessions, Kate O. “K. O. S. In England.” California Garden 17:1 (July 1925): 3-4, 14.
Sessions describes her ride on the London underground and visits to Kew Gardens and the Chelsea Flower Show.
Sessions, Kate O. “K. O. S. in Gay Paree: Gardens of Versailles and Luxembourg.” California Garden 16:12 (June 1925): 3-4.
Continuing her reports from Europe, Sessions comments on Paris gardens.
Sessions, Kate O. “The Kate Sessions Page.” California Garden 36:1 (Mar. 1945): 7.
Reprints two short columns from the 1930s: “Tree Staking,” California Garden 22:4 (Oct. 1930): 6 and “Fuchsias,” California Garden 21:12 (June 1930): 15.
Sessions, Kate O. “Kentia Palms.” California Garden 1927 (Dec. 1927): 4, 7.
Several palm trees that grow well in San Diego are discussed, with an emphasis on the Kentias (Howea) palms native to the Lord Howe Island in the South Pacific.
Sessions, Kate O. “Kentia Palms.” California Garden 24:7 (Jan. 1933): 5.
San Diego is identified as the ideal climate for the slow growing, but tall and attractive Kentia palm.
Sessions, Kate O. “Kolkwitzia Amabilis.” California Garden 23:10 (Apr. 1932): 11.
Kolkwitzia amabilis, the Beauty Bush, was introduced by E. H. Wilson from China and distributed from the Arnold Arboretum. In San Diego proper the plant disappointed, but in the county’s cooler mountainous areas it flourished.
“KOS Goes to Hawaii.” California Garden 18:1 (July 1926): 1-2. Reprinted as: “KOS Letter From Hawaii.” California Garden [The Kate Sessions Issue] 44:3 (Autumn 1953), 13-16.
Originally printed San Diego Union newspaper.
Sessions, Kate O. “Labeling and Marking Plants.” California Garden 4:9 (Mar. 1913): 7.
Color and especially color variations should be recorded when bulbous plants are in bloom.
Sessions, Kate O. “Lantana Culture.” California Garden 25: 4-5 (Nov. 1933): 8.
Color varieties of lantana and their care are discussed, along with some general comments on color in the garden.
Sessions, Kate O. “Lawns and Lawns.” California Garden 19:7 (Jan. 1928): 1.
Sessions, Kate O. “Lippia Repens.” California Garden 19:12 (June 1928): 15.
Sessions, Kate O. “Living Christmas Trees.” California Garden 18:7 (Jan. 1927): 7.
Several small and large scale evergreens suitable as living Christmas trees are listed and a pitch is made for the planting of street trees for holiday decoration. Sessions notes that Altadena, near Pasadena, has a fine avenue of deodora cedars that are strung with electric lights from Christmas Eve through New Years Day.
Sessions, Kate O. “Lombardy Poplar.” California Garden 22:8 (Feb.1931): 11.
This tall, fast-growing, and decorative tree is sometimes planted for immediate effect, but is a poor choice for small gardens because of its fast spreading root system and frequent root shoots. It is more appropriately sited on large grounds or along a highway.
Sessions, Kate O. “Low Growing Shrubs.” California Garden 3:4 (Oct. 1911): 4.
Some shrubs established as proven growers are discussed and others still “on trial” in the San Diego climate are identified.
Sessions, Kate O. “The Man of Trees Visits California.” California Garden 24:11 (May 1933): 11.
Richard St. Barbe Baker, known for tree planting programs in many countries, visited California to promote the preservation of the giant redwood forests in the state.
Sessions, Kate O. “The March Garden.” California Garden 1:9 (Mar. 1910): 10-11.
Trees and shrubs best planted in the early Spring are listed.
Sessions, Kate O. “May Planting Notes.” California Garden 6:11 (May 1915): 11.
May garden jobs and appropriate plantings are listed, along with praise for a Santa Barbara garden and commentary on a few San Diego gardens.
Sessions, Kate O. “Melaleuca Leucadendron.” California Garden 29:3 (Sept. 1937): 6.
Sessions observes that while melaleuca shrubs are common in San Diego, the tree species is rare. She describes the medicinal use of melaleuca oil and the attractive layered white bark of the tree.
Sessions, Kate O. “Mesembryanthemums.” California Garden 23:6 (Dec. 1931): 1-2.
A scholarly description of the large South African genus with at least 400 varieties. Sessions advises on the most attractive types to plant, suggesting that large, coarse growers would be good for roadside planting, but that “the intense magenta shades” should be avoided.
Sessions, Kate O. “Mesembryanthemums.” California Garden 28:12 (June 1937): 1, 8.
Urging the planting of this South African native, Sessions praises it as a low-water, weed-choking, unique specimen that does not grow well in other parts of the country.
Sessions, Kate O. “Mina Lobata.” California Garden 28:7-8 (Jan.-Feb. 1937): 4.
“Every garden should have a plant of this extra fine and beautiful morning glory.”
Sessions, Kate O. “Miss Sessions, On European Trip, Gives Us Impressions.” California Garden 16:9-10 (Mar.-Apr. 1925): 3, 16-17.
Leaving San Diego on Feb. 21, 1925, Sessions reports on her cross-country train trip to New York where she planned to board an Atlantic steamer bound for Italy.
Sessions, Kate O. “Miss Sessions Visits an Alpine Garden.” California Garden 17:3 (Sept. 1925): 9-10.
A visit to the famous Correvon nursery and rock gardens in Geneva is described, with mention of numerous specific plants. Sessions purchased books written by Correvon for the San Diego Floral Society and one for herself on alpine flora. (In April 1926, Correvon visited San Diego to lecture on alpine plants. See, California Garden 17:10 (Apr. 1926): 1.)
Sessions, Kate O. “Miss Sessions Visits William Robinson.” California Garden 17:5 (Nov. 1925): 3. Reprinted: California Garden 44:3 (Autumn 1953), 19 [The Kate Sessions Issue].
With a letter of introduction, Sessions arranged a meeting with the celebrated English garden writer, William Robinson, while traveling in England. She purchased from him a full set of Gardening Illustrated, the influential journal he founded and edited. Sessions presented this copy to the San Diego Floral Association library.
Sessions, Kate O. “Montezuma Cypress.” California Garden 24:5 (Nov.1932): 10.
Attractive examples around San Diego of the large and graceful Taxodium mucronatum tree are identified, but Sessions laments the absence of good specimens within Balboa Park.
Sessions, Kate O. “My Garden.” California Garden 27:10 (Apr. 1936): 8.
A miscellany of information about unusual plants growing at her home, including the Banksia grandis which was photographed by Eric Walther of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park in San Francisco who speculated that Sessions’ was the first to bloom in California.
Sessions, Kate O. “Native Plants That May Be Watered.” California Garden 24:4 (Oct. 1932): 3.
Four native plants that will tolerate dry-season watering are identified. San Diego gardeners are warned away from the Monterey pine, Monterey cypress, and redwood tree because all demand milder and wetter conditions than offered by the San Diego climate.
Sessions, Kate O. “Natives.” California Garden 23:12 (June 1932): 4.
Romneya coulteri, the Matillija poppy, should be found in every garden in Southern California. It is one of our “very finest native plants” and is “highly prized” in the British Isles. Indigenous plants are ideal for coast highway planting because they require the least care while being of great interest to tourists.
Sessions, Kate O. “New Chilean Lily.” California Garden 23:2 (Aug. 1931): 5.
Sessions excitedly describes a beautiful new flower introduced in England by Clarence Elliot, who also called at her San Diego nursery and left her some seed of the Leucocoryne ixioide ordorata. Readers are invited to see a picture of the flower in the public library’s copy of The London News Illustrated.
Sessions, Kate O. “New Gladiolus.” California Garden 23:9 (Mar. 1932): 15.
Sessions received Gladiolus tristis bulbs from E. O. Orpet of Santa Barbara and predicts a promising future for this South African native in Southern California Gardens.
Sessions, Kate O. “New Zealand’s Flora . . . .” California Garden 27:7-8 (Jan.-Feb. 1936): 7-8.
A California State pamphlet on New Zealand imports by Katharine Jones lists numerous plants. Sessions identifies those already growing in San Diego.
Sessions, Kate O. “Notes by K. O. S.” California Garden 17:9 (Mar. 1926): 3.
Acacias and poinsettias receive brief mention and locations for viewing plants are given.
Sessions, Kate O. “Notes by K. O. Sessions.” California Garden 15:9 (Mar. 1924): 3.
Wisteria, the camphor tree, and various shrubs growing in San Diego gardens are highlighted.
Sessions, Kate O. “Notes by K. O. S.” California Garden 16:5 (Nov. 1924): 3.
Discusses the attributes of the sky flower vine, Thunbergia grandiflora, and a shrub ideal for containers, Ligustrum henryii. A spreading shrub, Crataegus yunnanesis, is recommended as another desirable means of reducing the size of San Diego lawns.
Sessions, Kate O. “Notes by K.O. Sessions.” California Garden 16:6 (Dec. 1924): 3.
Sessions responds to a debate in California Garden on the utility of lawns in Southern California with recommended reading from the public library, W. H. Hudson’s The Book of a Naturalist. She goes on to say, “it is a fact that a lawn is the most expensive part of a garden and requires continual attention and is the least interesting . . . . “ Still, she concedes, many consider the lawn “a very effective part of the garden.”
Sessions, Kate O. “Notes on a Two Days’ Trip to Pomona and Neighboring Places.” California Garden 16:3 (Sept. 1924): 12.
Sessions learned about arch grafting to save aged citrus trees and comments on the scientific experimentation underway to further develop the citrus industry in the counties of Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Bernardino.
Sessions, Kate O. “Notes on Ericas.” California Garden 13 [i.e., 14]:15 [i.e., 3] (Sept. 1922): 7-8.
Soil and cultivation for heathers is described, along with specific varieties for San Diego.
Sessions, Kate O. “Notes on Kentias and Other Palms.” California Garden 18:4 (Oct. 1926): 3.
The Kentia (Howea) forsteriana and several other varieties of palms are discussed. San Diego is one of the few climates where this palm can be grown outside, without protection from cold and sun. Sessions recommends a greater use of palms which are especially attractive when grouped.
Sessions, Kate O. “Notes on Natives.” California Garden 30:1-2 (July-Aug. 1938): 1.
Sessions urges the planting of Ceanothus arborea, Rhus integrifolia, and other native plants along highways and on bare hillsides.
Sessions, Kate O. “Notes on Plants.” California Garden 11:2 (Aug. 1919): 3.
Sessions reports on a visit by Alice Eastwood of the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco and work at the World War I post, Camp Kearney, creating a lath house and starting a vegetable garden. She calls for an “Oxalis Lady”–a volunteer to plant Oxalis bulbs along the Camp Kearney roadways and in other public places, so that the plant’s “brightness and vigor” and winter hardiness can spread joy.
Sessions, Kate O. “Notes on Planting.” California Garden 11:1 (July 1919): 5.
The Tamarix aestivalis is recommended as a long-blooming shrub with attractive foliage.
Sessions, Kate O. “Notes on Planting.” West American Scientist 7:63 (Oct. 1891), 265-268.
Several different plants are discussed, including various palms, the sago palm and ficus trees.
Sessions, Kate O. “Notes on Planting.” West American Scientist 8 (Nov. 1892).
Sessions, Kate O. “November Planting.” California Garden 1:5 (Nov. 1909): 11-12.
Discusses plants appropriate for planting in the late Fall and gives other gardening tips.
Sessions, Kate O. “The October Garden.” California Garden 1:4 (Oct. 1909): 14.
Bulbs ideal for planting in October are listed.
Sessions, Kate O. “Ornamental Flowering Fruit Trees.” California Garden 23:8 (Feb. 1932): 4. Reprinted as: “From the Files: Ornamental Flowering Fruit Trees.” California Garden 39:4 (Winter 1948): 8.
Evergreen pears, flowering plums, and other Spring blooming trees are recommended for garden backgrounds or the edges of orchards. Seeds of the campanulata were imported from Formosa by E. H. Wilson and distributed from the Arnold Arboretum.
Sessions, Kate O. “Our Native Ceanothus . . . Recent Rains Benefit these Native Beauties.” California Garden 26:8-9 (Feb.-Mar. 1935): 7.
The drought resistant nature of the Ceanothus is discussed and a suggestion is made to plant more of this native plant along the Coast Highway near Torrey Pines.
Sessions, Kate O. “Our Native Cherry.” California Garden 24:6 (Dec. 1932): 7.
The local wild cherry bush, Prunus ilicifolia, can be grown as a shrub, as illustrated in the George W. Marston garden. The Catalina cherry, Prunus integrifolia, is a large tree.
Sessions, Kate O. “Our Native Shrubs.” California Garden 23:10 (Apr. 1932): 13-14. Reprinted as: “From Our Files: Our Native Shrubs.” California Garden 40:1 (Spring 1949): 11.
Several native shrubs are described and promoted, both for the home garden and as desirable highway plantings.
Sessions, Kate O. “The Palm–Erythea Brandegei.” California Garden 11:11 (May 1920): 13. Reprinted: California Garden 88:5 (Sept.-Oct. 1997): 149-50.
Sessions tells the story of her trip with a party led by Townshend Stith Brandegee to San Jose de Cabo in Baja, Mexico, in search of a new palm tree. Sessions gathered seeds which she later raised to mature palm trees.
Sessions, Kate O. “Palms Growing Where All May See.” California Garden 2:2 (June 1911): 11.
June is a good month to plant palms and several varieties are mentioned.
Sessions, Kate O. “Parkinsonia Aculeata.” California Garden 26:3 (Sept. 1934): 8.
Popularly known as the palo verde, this gracefully weeping tree is worthy of a place in gardens, parks, and as a carefree decoration for roadsides.
Sessions, Kate O. “Petrea Volubilis.” California Garden 26:3 (Sept.1934): 4.
The lavender-blooming “sandpaper vine” is a beautiful find from Sessions’ 1926 trip to Hawaii.
Sessions, Kate O. “The Pink Tacoma.” California Garden 4:3 (Sept. 1912): 15.
A second article on this favorite hardy and wide-spreading vine. Readers are given several locations where the vine can be seen in bloom. As an added endorsement, Sessions mentions the sale of five Pink Tacoma vines to H. E. Huntington (wealthy builder of today’s Huntington Library and Garden).
Sessions, Kate O. “Pink Tacoma, ‘Queen of Sheba.’” California Garden 1:8 (Feb. 1910): 6-7.
Describes an attractive vine growing in San Diego.
Sessions, Kate O. “Pittosporums.” California Garden 19:5 (Nov. 1927): 3-5.
The appearance and growing habits of several varieties of Pittsporums are described.
Sessions, Kate O. “Placing of Trees and Shrubs.” California Garden 18:6 (Dec. 1926): 7.
“We need to use more plants here as ground covers and therefore have less lawn,” Sessions observes, recommending “less lawn--and more color in the garden” through the appropriate selection and placement of trees and shrubs.
Sessions, Kate O. “Plant Society Notes.” California Garden 4:4 (Oct. 1912): 16-17.
Comments on palms as street trees, selecting and growing vines, the economic value of ornamental plants, and the possibilities of growing exotic new species from Australia, Mexico, and South Africa in San Diego.
Sessions, Kate O. “Plant Specialists Visit San Diego.” California Garden 19:1 (July 1927): 2.
Brief paragraph on the visits of the McAfee sisters of San Gabriel and Fred McKenney, specialist from Sherman on specimen plants for Spanish gardens and walls.
Sessions, Kate O. “Planting Notes” [by K. O. Sessions and Lanier Brothers]. California Garden 3:6 (Dec. 1911): 12.
A question and answer format links such disparate topics as climbing vines, transplanting bougainvillea, and fertilizing Jacaranda trees.
Sessions, Kate O. “Planting Notes.” California Garden 5:8 (Feb. 1914): 8.
Although San Diego’s climate is forgiving, there are best times to plant certain plants. Various varieties best planted in early Spring are listed.
Sessions, Kate O. “Poinsettia Pointers.” California Garden 29:9 (April 1938): 5.
The bare off-season branches of the poinsettia can be concealed with low foreplantings.
Sessions, Kate O. “Primulas.” California Garden 24:8 (Feb.1933): 2.
Primroses generally do not flourish in San Diego, but a few varieties are recommended.
Sessions, Kate O. “Pruning.” California Garden 20:6 (Dec. 1928): 8.
Advice on winter pruning of various plants and shrubs is offered.
Sessions, Kate O. “Rabbits Relish Bitter Aloes.” California Garden 25: 4-5 (Nov. 1933): 7.
A short paragraph on poisoning the rabbits that were destroying plants in the aloe and agave garden at Balboa Park.
Sessions, Kate O. “Random Notes.” California Garden 22:9 (June 1931): 4.
A miscellany of garden tips touching on honeysuckles, evergreen elm, Belladonna lilies, birds of paradise, and other topics.
Sessions, Kate O. “A Rare Bilbergia.” California Garden 21:6 (Dec. 1929): 5.
A sickly plant in a San Diego garden bloomed beautifully and was identified as Bilbergia thyrsoidea splendida.
Sessions, Kate O. “Recent Garden Visits.” California Garden 11:12 (June 1928): 8.
Sessions reports on stops at nurseries and private gardens in the Los Angeles area and north to Santa Barbara where E. O. Orpet, Superintendent of the City Parks, was her guide.
Sessions, Kate O. “Report of the May Garden Meeting.” California Garden 21:12 (June 1930): 4.
The San Diego Floral Association met at the garden of a member. Sessions comments on a grouping of palms, calling it “a fine feature that San Diego must realize and grow up to.”
Sessions, Kate O. “Report of the June Garden Meeting.” California Garden 22:2 (Aug. 1930): 7.
The Floral Association visited “the best example of that ‘outdoor living room’ that Mr. A. D. Robinson so often preaches to San Diego gardeners.”
Sessions, Kate O. “Rock Gardens and Ferneries.” California Garden 3:8 (Feb. 1912): 12-13.
The charms of rock gardens are described. They are particularly suited for adding interest to small lots, mesa landscaping, and for gardens in Point Loma and Del Mar.
Sessions, Kate O. “Rock Work.” California Garden 20:8 (Feb.1929): 8.
Paul Avery, a San Diego college student, traveled to 50 European gardens and rock gardens in 1928 to study and photograph rock construction and garden adornment and is accomplishing fine rock work in San Diego County during his school vacations.
Sessions, Kate O. “Romneya Coulteri, or Matilija Poppy.” California Garden 1:1 (July 1909): 5. Reprinted: California Garden 31:1 (July 1939): 17. Reprinted in a facsimile issue: California Garden 50:2 (Summer 1959): 1. Reprinted: California Garden 75:4 (July-Aug. 1984): 103.
In an article for the inaugural issue of the San Diego Floral Association’s journal, Sessions describes a Southern California native with showy white flowers. (Romneya coulteri was already well known to English gardeners, having been identified in 1832 by Dr. Thomas Coulter. Gertrude Jekyll, renowned English arts and crafts garden designer and author, made a still-life photograph of Romneya blooms for 1885 publication in the widely read magazine, The Garden.)
Sessions, Kate O. “San Diego Coast Planting.” California Garden 18:7 (Jan. 1927): 1-2.
Observing that each year more homes and summer cottages are built on San Diego’s long coast, Sessions gives numerous suggestions for plants that will thrive in the salty, prevailing breeze, including natives “worthy of more culture.”
Sessions, Kate O. “San Diego Floral’s 30th Anniversary.” California Garden 31:1 (July 1939): 8.
Sessions urges the San Diego Floral Association to become more active in civic improvement and comments on the useful information to be found in past issues of California Garden magazine. She bemoans her lack of youthful vigor to continue to promote the public value of horticultural improvements.
Sessions, Kate O. “San Diego’s Horticultural Children.” California Garden 18:2 (Aug. 1927): 8.
The native plants, Fremontia mexicana and Ceanothus cyaneus, have been brought into cultivation with seed propagation. They are growing selectively throughout Southern California but deserve wider use as attractive and unthirsty plants.
Sessions, Kate O. “Seashore Gardens.” California Garden 1:4 (Oct. 1909): 10-11.
While growing conditions near the coast impose limitations, a substantial list of shrubs, trees, vines, and flowers that will grow with some shelter is given.
Sessions, Kate O. “Seashore Plantings.” California Garden 16:2 (Aug. 1924): 1-2.
Sessions, Kate O. “A Serious Pest.” California Garden 3:2 (Aug. 1911): 12.
Pointing out that snails and slugs are rapidly becoming a serious garden pest in San Diego, ideas for control and eradication are given, along with an invitation for further ideas.
Sessions, Kate O. “A Session with Miss Sessions.” California Garden 2:2 (Aug. 1910): 14.
The beauty and virtues of the sycamore tree are proclaimed, along with a call for its planting along roadways and in the San Diego city park.
Sessions, Kate O. “A Session with Miss Sessions.” California Garden 4:2 (Aug. 1912): 11.
A San Diegan is complimented for an artistic transformation of his garden through the building of a rockery, ponds, and a lath house. Lath house construction in local gardens is strongly encouraged.
Sessions, Kate O. “Shipping Cut Flowers.” California Garden 22:7 (Jan. 1931): 15.
A short paragraph on a subject Sessions followed over many years: the commercial flower business in Southern California. She comments on a new packing methods that keeps cut flowers fresh without special refrigeration.
Sessions, Kate O. “Short Planting Notes.” California Garden 6:7 (Jan. 1915): 12.
Unusual early warm rains invite the planting of many varieties of flowers. Sessions also urges the planting of aloes because they will bloom in winter and spring and need little care or water.
Sessions, Kate O. “The Show.” California Garden 20:11 (May 1929): 6.
A cool Spring delayed the 22nd Annual San Diego Floral Association show, but the displays were very fine, winning praise from out-of-town visitors.
Sessions, Kate O. “The Snails are Doomed!” California Garden 14:4 (Oct. 1922): 12.
Tobacco stems are recommended to protect plants by stupefying snails so they can be easily exterminated. Tell everyone to use them, Sessions exhorts, “and let’s clean the town of snails.”
Sessions, Kate O. “Society Notes of the Flowers.” California Garden 3:9 (Mar. 1912): 12.
In a favorite format, Sessions calls attention to various plants to be seen in San Diego gardens, inviting her readers to go out and view these striking examples.
Sessions, Kate O. “The Solanum Vines.” California Garden 21:2 (Aug. 1929): 10.
Several Solanum varieties are described and recommended for San Diego gardens.
Sessions, Kate O. “Some South Americans.” Santa Barbara Gardener 13:1 (Dec.1937) 1, 2-3.
Sessions adds her personal experience in growing seven different South American plants to the information published earlier in Golden Gardens magazine. When Professor Charles S. Sargent of the Arnold Arboretum visited Sessions 35 years earlier, he advised her to send a plant collector to Mexico and South America to stock her nursery with “treasures,” but she was unable to finance such an expedition.
Sessions, Kate O. “Some Things the Frost Did” [K. O. Sessions and T. U. Barber]. California Garden 4:8 (Feb. 1913): 6-7.
Sessions lists some plants that suffered in a cold snap and invites Floral Association members to report on plants that fared well in the frost as a guide for future planting.
Sessions, Kate O. “South African Plants.” California Garden 23:7 (Jan. 1932): 3.
Reviews books on South African plants and describes specimens of South African plants growing in her own garden.
Sessions, Kate O. “Staking Trees.” California Garden 18:7 (Jan. 1927): 13.
Emphatic instructions on the correct means of staking a newly planted tree are delivered.
Sessions, Kate O. “Statice.” California Garden 15:3 (Sept. 1923): 1-2.
Eight varieties of the “everlasting” statice are described, along with the best growing conditions and the plant’s botanical origins.
Sessions, Kate O. “Supports for Vines.” California Garden 14:3 (Sept. 1922): 7.
Sessions gives detailed instructions for creating inexpensive trellises and training vines.
Sessions, Kate O. “The Tecomas.” California Garden 36:5-6 (Nov.-Dec. 1934): 6.
Tecoma smithii is recommended as a shrub that will remain moderate in size. Several other shrubs and vines of the plant family are described.
Sessions, Kate O. “Three Local Gardens,” California Garden 20:6 (Dec. 1928): 8-9.
Unusual plants, hillside contouring, and a rock garden in established and developing San Diego gardens are described.
Sessions, Kate O. “Tipu Tree New.” California Garden 31:2 (Aug. 1939): 7.
Ten years earlier, the Tipu tree was introduced to San Diego from Brazil. It may become the “show tree for Pacific Beach” and will be a popular rival to the native oak as an outdoor living room tree.
Sessions, Kate O. “Tipuana Speciosa and Other Trees.” California Garden 23:12 (Aug. 1932): 7.
Tipuana speciosa is a tree at my nursery in Pacific Beach about eight years old, and was received from the United States Bureau of Plant Importations . . . .” Its yellow blossoms make it a good companion to the Jacaranda. The Tipuana tree is a close second to the evergreen elm as a shade tree.
Sessions, Kate O. “The Tragedy of the Cocus Plumosa Palm.” California Garden 22:3 (Sept. 1930): 12.
Street planted palm trees may not get enough water, allowing them to develop fungal diseases or insect infestations. [Sessions was commenting on a fatal accident caused when the head of a diseased palm tree fell on a pedestrian in downtown San Diego.]
Sessions, Kate O. “Tree Planting for Pacific Beach . . . Planting Made of Metrosideros tomentosa.” California Garden 27:3 (Sept. 1935): 4.
Sessions urges the planting of more New Zealand Christmas trees and gives several locations around San Diego where flourishing specimens can be seen.
Sessions, Kate O. “Tree Staking.” California Garden 22:5 (Nov.1930): 5.
Very definite ideas on the planting, staking, and pruning of trees are presented.
Sessions, Kate O. “Trees.” California Garden 22:5 (Nov. 1930): 10.
San Diego needs more trees, Sessions contends. Several species, both for country roads and city streets, are recommended
Sessions, Kate O. “Trees.” California Garden 29:5 (Nov. 1937): 2.
Describes the selection, planting, pruning, and cultivation of specimen trees for the home garden.
Sessions, Kate O. “The 25th Fall Flower Show.” California Garden 22:4 (Oct. 1930): 8.
Although fewer exhibitors participated than in past years, the San Diego Floral Association produced a worthy show with the best display of native shrubs in its history.
Sessions, Kate O. “Unpublished Manuscript on Palms.” California Garden 33:9 (Mar. 1942): 8.
Article by Sessions on various palm species from a handwritten paper that “came to light through the efforts of Mrs. Mary A. Greer.” Endorses the Kentia forsteriana palm as “a great advertisement for our mild San Diego climate” and suggests a that a grove of 50 or more be planted in Balboa Park.
Sessions, Kate O. [Untitled article] California Garden 30:7 (Jan.-Feb. 1939): 5.
Sessions mentions David Fairchild’s latest book, The World Was My Garden, and his earlier work, Exploring for Plants. She notes the recent planting at the Fairchild tropical garden in Florida of 225 species of palms and discusses a Moroccan tree, Argania sideroxylon.
Sessions, Kate O. “Vacant Lot Improvements.” California Gardens 5:12 (June 1914): 7.
The eyesore created by vacant lots can be mitigated by a screening hedge and inexpensive landscaping at the front of the lot. Sessions offers free cane hedge plants to landowners.
Sessions, Kate O. “The Value and Importance of Good Roads and Shade Trees Along Same [Read by Miss Kate Sessions, of San Diego before the Polological Society of Southern Calif., at its meeting in Redland, May 5th and 6th, 1892].” The Orange Belt [monthly], Alessandro, San Bernadino County, II:8 (May 1892) [broadside].
The deplorable condition of roads in Southern California detract from the farm economy, public health, and the long-term development of Southern California. Roads should be built and made beautiful by the symmetrical planting of the same tree along each side. Trees should be planted and maintained at public expense. Beauty, more than shade, is the object of roadside planting and can made streets and highways “the pride of every citizen.”
Sessions, Kate O. “Vines.” Golden Gardens 3? (Sept. 1935): 7-8. Photocopied article in San Diego History Center Biographical Files, “Sessions.”
The Federation [of garden clubs] reprints “the rest of Miss Sessions’ talk on vines.”
Sessions, Kate O. “A Visit to Mrs. Herbert Evans’ Garden.” California Garden 21:11 (May 1930): 7.
Sessions found much to admire in a San Diego garden opened to visitors and observes: “More garden and less house” would be a good slogan “in this favored land and climate.”
Sessions, Kate O. “Visiting the Flower Shows,” California Garden 29:12 (June 1938): 2.
Sessions reviews the Coronado, La Jolla, Rancho Santa Fe, and San Diego flower shows.
Sessions, Kate O. “Visitors and Facts.” California Garden 21:9 (Mar. 1930): 7.
A short paragraph reporting correspondence with Hugh Evans and visits by E. O. Orpet and Stephen Vavra to San Diego.
Sessions, Kate O. “Walled Gardens.” California Garden 21:5 (Nov.1929): 2.
Walling a small garden may be expensive but has many advantages, particularly for creating a private outdoor living space.
Sessions, Kate O. “When Christmas Comes . . ..” California Garden 31:4 (Oct. 1939): 3.
While English holly, Ilex aquifolium, is popular at Christmas, it is difficult to grow in San Diego. The Chinese holly, Ilex cornuta, is ideal for the Southern California climate.
Sessions, Kate O. “Why Early Blossoms. California Garden 27:9 (Mar. 1936): 8.
A number of trees were blooming early in Southern California apparently responding to the rain patterns of the season.
Sessions, Kate O. “Wild Cherries.” California Garden 23:12 (June 1932): 10-11.
The native California cherry is compared with the Carolina cherry, both of which will thrive in San Diego under dry conditions.
Sessions, Kate O. “Wild Flower Conservation.” California Garden 19:4 (Oct. 1927): 4.
Sessions makes a case for wildflower conservation and applauds the business practices of her friend Lester Rountree of Carmel for selling native wildflowers raised only from seed and refusing to dig and sell naturally occurring bulbs.
Sessions, Kate O. “Winter and Spring Bloomers,” California Garden 29:4 (Oct. 1937): 1.
Discusses the small number of bulbs that will flourish and reproduce in San Diego.
Sessions, Kate O. “Wisterias.” California Garden 20:10 (Apr. 1929): 15.
If more San Diegans planted wisteria, the city could celebrate a “Wisteria Festival Week” each Spring. Very precise instructions for training and pruning the plant is offered.
Sessions, Kate O. “Wisterias.” California Garden 23:11 (May 1932): 9.
Case studies of wisteria varieties growing in San Diego are describes and advice on cultivation given.
Sessions, Kate O. “Yellow Morning Glory in Lower California.” California Garden 24:9 (Mar. 1933): 10.
After reading a report about a yellow morning glory found in Cape St. Lucas, on the tip of Baja, Sessions reports on her own sighting of the same plant when she joined Townshend Stith Brandegee on a plant-hunting trip in 1900. Although the first efforts to cultivate the vines in Southern California did not succeed, the attractive flower justifies another effort.
Sessions, Kate O. “Yucca Guatemalaensis.” California Garden 23:4 (Oct.1931): 8.
This decorative and spineless yucca variety is recommended for San Diego gardens.
Sessions, Kate O. “Reprinted Sessions with Sessions.” California Garden [The Kate Sessions Issue] 44:3 (Autumn 1953): 13-24.
A selection of Sessions’ writings, including a letter from Hawaii, a description of her visit to the famous British gardener and author, William Robinson, and commentaries on ferns, acacias, bamboo, lantana, and various garden design and maintenance ideas. A photograph of the young Sessions is reproduced (p. 13) with the caption: “From the family album of Miss Eleanor Carroll.”