Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-03
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

have done their best to interest the
gardener. Each one of them has O
flavor Of Its own. Although all Of them
list, in the main, much the same seeds
and plants, each one specialiZeS upon
| one or more. One booklet will stress
the rose. another the gladiolus, another
the petunia. And each seed house has
its champions among readers. Men
are loyal to their seedsmen, just as
they are to their safety razors, but they
are always looking around for the per-
feet seed-seed which will terminate
100 per cent and never disappoint in
color or any other matter.
Now, every gardener, no matter how
much Of an amateur he Is, knows that
| perfection is no more reached in seeds
than in other things. A packet may
changes drastically after the plants are
first up, something may happen. And
then it Is easy to place the blame on
the seed, of course, rather than on
the elements. These are chances seeds
men must take. There is no more
absolute perfection in seeds than In
human nature. So long as men are
lazy, there will be injustice done seeds.
No one can help 1t.
This is the appointed time for every
gardener to decide what plants he
wants to grow this Spring. The time
will shortly be here when it will be safe
to plant anything. Each individual
gardener must realize that some mil
lions of persons throughout the United
States are thinking exactly the same
| thought. All of them are rushing to
their catalogues. Soon the mails will
be flooded with orders. Mail early!"
mas, 1t applies with peculiar force in
early Spring. The early bird not only
gets his worm, the early gardener gets
his wanted seeds with less delay and
less chance Of error.
X \ +
If we have any advice to give the
! amateur this season, 1t is to make him.
self happy with the ANIMALS, and not
| spend so much time talking about and
planting perennials. Every garden
ought to have plenty of the latter. it
goes without saying, but more gardens
ought to have more Of the fine old an
nuals. If we may judge from frequent
trips through the various suburbs OF
Washington last Summer, there are
| literally thousands of wasted OPP
| portunities for beauty everywhere.
| Many ANIMALS, such as the zinnia and
petunia, ask nothing more than to be
| planted. Such seed is cheap. Acres Of
| their beauty may be secured for few
CeLIS. MOSI SpCCldlADC, wv AA
| handling what Is often termed Cali
fornia wild flower seed" Often vacant
lots could be planted to this latter for
as little as so cents, to the unreasonable
| gain of adjoining property and the
entire neighborhood
| The ANIMALS suffer from the evil
which often afflict those things in this
world which are both good and COM
mon. Their profusion detracts from
them in many minds. Often their
beauty is forgotten for no better reason
Gardening hath its snobbery, too. no
| less than books. We will not shortly
| forget the sneer We received in book
store some months ago. from gentle
man who was purchasing one OF the
fiashy new biographies" when we
dared to ask for copy Of Boswells
Life of Samuel Johnson" Yet the
book he bought already is forgotten, or
almost so, whereas Boswells famous
work goes right ahead winning ever
new laurels with the discriminating.
| 1t is so with the flowers. After one
has tried the fancy ANIMALS, which
may or may not succeed for one, he Is
willing to go back to the surety of the
| Zinnias and the petunias and the
! portulacaS. They will bloom for him
| in bad seasons as we'll as good. He
| does not have to be an expert" to
have these pretty flowers. And they
| are beautiful, after all, are they not?
| They are not roses Of courSe-no other
flowers are. Nor are they gladioli. The
iris and the peony stand sure in their
favorite places of great dignity and
beauty. We would not compare petunias
and zinnias with them. Nor would we
forget these latter old "standbys" for
| them, either.