Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-05

A lecturer on Japanese gardens ended
his talk by pointing to the picture OF
formal painting in the traditional man
ner and declaring that in the conten1-
plation of such a garden the spectator
could find peace and rest and release
from horticulture"
All those who have worked even in
the smallest way with plants know what
ne meant by that significant phrase
From all the talk Of backgrounds. color,
harmony, balance, perennials, ANIMALS,
shrubs. evergreens the weary soul OF the
gardener seeks repoSe.
Even the most enthusiastic worker
with plants, even the ardent amateur,
finds himself at times becoming more
and more perplexed over the theory OF
the garden, which in many cases seems
to have overshadowed the work OF the
garden.
Less mental and more manual work
in gardens, especially among the home
owning amateurs, would tend toward
more real Joy in the pursuit of happi-
ness in the open air. Yet the nurseries
of the country will give us no peace
Their organization this season is adver-
Using two interesting booklets. one on
How to Build an outdoor Living
Room" and another on planting the
home grounds.
We are to be made artistic whether
or no! No longer shall the householder
be permitted to splash up his front n
lawn with big, inartistic flowerbed II
he wants to. He must not be permitted
to want to commit such a crime.
OF course, such planting is q miSde-
meanor, but the big danger Is that
home gardening is going to be spoiled
for the average individual by too many
rules and regulations. The first thing
the country knows, it is going to wake
up to the fact that q mans garden Is
no longer the expression of his own
temperament, for good or Ill. but rather
the expression of a set of men he never
saw, whose ideas are their own, not his.
They will poke their busy fingers into
his perfectly inartistic but satisfactory
garden and declare with mighty sneer
that Shakespeare was mistaken when
he wrote that wheeze about something
being small yet mine own"
X X
The release from Horticulture for
most of us simply means that we cease
worrying whether our paintings would
please some expert. After all, an ex-
Each one OF us is a bit of an expert in
gardening sense, and that bit ought
to sufilce. II it does not, our expert
ness tends to bring unnecessary sorrow
in its artistic wake,
The home gardener ought to approach
landscape gardening and its allied
branches with an humble but a con-
trite heart, determined to get all from
1t that he can; and when he has looked
that field over carefully he should as
carefully forget all except that which
he manages to retain gracefully.
There should be no running back to
consult his books or hanging with bated
breath on the words of lecturers. Gar
den clubs are all very well, but some
times the most enthusiastic gardener
comes to wonder If they do any good to
the individual amateur worker with the
soil
The value Of college courses, as most
graduates will admit, lies in the ex-
posture of the student to the great
advance of the mind along certain
paths of learning. One goes to college
not so much for what he will get out
Of 1t as for the chance to become en-
amored Of some one subject.
Then, by specializing in that branch
OF intelligence, he becomes little ex-
pert in his turn, so that he either may
earn his living from 1t or possess a
lifelong interest or hobby. Either way,
he is the gamer.
Now, the amateur gardener ought to
go to his books, magazines, lectures. in
precisely the same spirit, determined to
get all the good he can from them, but