Evening star., 1925-12-03

tear up the bush. thinking it will never
amount to anything.
The wise gardener. however. will
keep hands off. and he will be rewarded
in another month by the beginnings of
that symmetry which. as we have said,
is half, or even more than half, the
beauty of this plant.
He will be surprised. in August, to
feel how thick the main stalks have
grown. Suddenly he will realize that
he has A real bush q last. He will
find, IL the sun has reached but one
side of the plant. that the bush Is lop-
sided. Those in full sun will he per
fectly round
Good hedges can he made with them,
hut. owing to their preliminary tender.
ness. they perhaps are not as salts.
factory i'm this position as in places
here and there. as foundation planting
Specimen plants have opportunity TO
display themselves not given those in
hedges.
Sometimes, after a heavy rain il is
necessary to stake the plants al
though in most cases sunshine will dry
them out so that they can raise them
selves. If they do not, it is well TO
tie them up to slender stake. which h
can be sunk in the luxuriant foliage so
that il cannot he seen
similar procedure must be gone
through with in case of a heavy wind.
storm. and especially in the event of
an early snowstorm. such as the one
experienced in Washington some
weeks ago.
The experienced gardener. after tha t
snow. went ont and shook the white
covering off his koChia plants. but
even then he was too late in some
cases, as the weight Of the snow had
broken squarely in two some of the
central stalks
II should be remembered that snow
Is heavy. and that the Kochia was
never intended 10 stand it's weight
coming from warm country. The
gardener should go out during the
storm. from time 10 time. and shake
the snow off before it gets q chance
to break his plants
As these bushes are amazingly Wig
orous. even II broken they can be tied
up deftly, so that no stake or string
shows. and they viii continue TO live
ana grow crimson. although perha ps
they may not be as perfect in shane
as before, naturally enough.
The plant is worth all this trouble
in order that it's Autumn color NAV
he seen at its best This deem. color.
ful maturity is the glory and crown
Of the koChia. and unless il ma nifest :
ii II has been cut off before it's time.
II has suffered an irrepa rahle loss. and
its planter has missed what he set out
to secure.
One might almost grow sentimental
over the unlucky kochia that never
bushes out its true beauty into the
cold air OF Autumn 4 whole neigh.
borhood. however. and not the Ko-
CHA. is the loser. As much of beauty
as II has latent in il Is lost when it
fails To reach the Autumn stage.
Many people who plant il do not
seem 10 realize that the kochia does
turn red in the Fan. and some even
90 TO the extent of pulling up the
plant that are wlndhlown or one.
sided. As . matter of fact. even the
most lop sided will he charming when
this chameleon begins 10 change its
color.
This is the high spot" Of one OF the
most unusual plants the average
gardener puts out in the Spring
There * no other bush Just like i. .
And its big feature is its color at this
time of the year
We who waited patiently for six
months are satisfied now. Nesting
AT the door step. or at points of van.
tage in the yard. the kochia becomes
deeper and deeper. dark. glowing. un.
I'll we know at last where il got its
n 10 Il Are