Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-15

Two amateur gardeners Nnet on the
street.
"Do you know what have decided to
do?" asked one.
The other showed polite interest.
II am going to plant zinnias and
petunias exclusively"
The others face immediately famed
into interest.
"That's funny" he said. "I was
thinking the same thing last night.
said to my wife. Here the gladioluS
bulbs have run out, and many Of our
other plants take too much care, and
haven't the time to give to them. Well
just plant zinnias and petunias this
year and let them take care Of them
selves So we decided to go back to
the old reliables."
you seldom read anything about the
different bulbs running out" rejoined
the other, but they do, just the same.
Here I had the finest gladioli one could
have two years ago, and now they aren't
worth anything"
THE trouble is" went on the first,
"one loses a bit of his pristine interest
in gardening after he has been at It
for half a dozen years or more. We
were not farmers, to begin with, and we
have something else to do"
Eyes, and plants take more time and
real work than many Of us have to give
them. What the home gardener ought
to stick to Is the easily planted thing
that will more or less take care Of it
self. Me for zinnias and petunias this
year."
We wondered how many other home
gardeners are going back to the "old
HnI
Not lust q few packets Of seed, but
zinnias and petunias everywhere. max
ing q riot Of color and enjoyment the
Summer through.
This plan has been advocated in this
column for several years. The urge Is
strong, of course, to try the fancier
things, but after one has been paving
around in the ground for several sea-
sons he begins to suspect that the aver
age home worker with flowers has o
tendency to branch out too widely.
The fun of trying new things is some
thing, 1t must be admitted, and every
gardener worth his salt will try them,
Of course, despite the best theoretical
admonitionS Of writer's on gardening
subjects. Just as every man thinks he
has an "ear for music" whatever that
means, and does not hesitate to discuss
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not know one note from another, so the
average amateur gardener will discuss
long and heatedly the merits OF the
various varieties Of gladioli, for In
stance.
Every one who has investigated the
gladiolus knows that this Is faScinat-
ing and beautiful flower He will have
to find out from his own experience,
however, that this king Of Summer
towering bulbs has its theoretical
thorns as well as the roses have their
real ones. Never, except in this column
and in a recent issue Of the Flower
Grower, has he ever seen printed the
simple truth that gladiolus bulbs will
run out" The general line OF bally-
hoo is that an individual CORN, once
purchased, will go on dividing and null
tiplying and producing as big flowers
In after years as it did at first.
Well, 1t won't, and that's that. We
had the grandest bed of gladioli you
ever saw several years ago. The bulbs
therein cost the round sum of SIS, ana
the flowers we're worth every cent OF
1t. Some of the individual spikes stood
as high as feet.
The very next season the specimens
grew only to feet, and mostly the
flowers were a vast disappointment in
the matter of size and color. Now, we
are aware that many factors enter into
the production of good gladiolus grow
ing, but the plain fact remains that the
average home gardener must renew his
bulbs every year or suffer disappoint-
ment in the ensuing crop. The next
time a friend begins to tell you about
how he bought dollars worth Of bulbs
10 years ago and the flowers today are
even bigger and prettier than ever. listen
to him politely. grin up your sleeve, and
set him down for the liar that he Is.