Evening star., 1932-03-17

Dear Sir: While Winter nips my
garden aspirations in the bud, 1 thought
it would be a good time to write to you
about essential garden plants. This
will be my first Spring in garden of
my own, and would like your opinion
as to the absolutely essential things to
plant. I mean the things every one
should have. Yours truly, E. p. G."
What are the garden essentials? This
Is q question which would require a
meeting Of the minds for its proper
solution, and even then the consensus
would be no nearer right than the
opinion of any one sincere gardener.
For in the garden, as in the library
| or In the concert hall, there Is no pre-
else list, no selection which might not
be bettered or which somebody else
might not improve for himself.
Yet there are limits in music, in
books, in garden materials. 1t would be
| impossible If any one were making
tunes to leave Sousa's Stars and
Stripes Forever" out. 1t is forever in.
II one were selecting the dozen great
est adventure stories, Alexandra Dumas
Three Musketeers' necessarily would
find place.
The beginning home gardener must
pay attention to the grounds as whole,
as we'll as to individual plants.
For that reason We would place the
grass as thc first of a round dozen of
garden essentials. 1t will be borne in
mind that this selection Is our own;
that we make no claim to omniscience
but only to some experience. and that
we leave every reader, including our
correspondent, free to make his or her
own selection.
The strictly new amateur gardener
there Is a difference between newcomer
amateur gardeners and old amateurs
the latter including most of us-may
not think of the grass plants as the
most essential things in his garden at
| first.
| The builder has sodded his yard for
| him, he moves in and finds it there
and tends to accept it. Unless his ex-
perience Is exceptional, however, he
will discover that he has more or less
of a continual fight on his hands to
keep it in good order.
1t Is essential to keep it looking we'll,
for the grass Is the background of the
entire garden. AS the years go by the
newcomer gardener will find that he
tends to become more finicky about his
lawn, and 1t will be because he comes
, grass looks so looks the garden.
The time and money and labor spent
upon this feature is never wasted.
However beautiful the flowers may be.
they merely accentuate the loveliness
! of the grass.
The lawn in some ways is the central
feature of all. Its green Is soothing to
the eye and lovely in itself. AS a sort
of foil to the flower colorS 1t plays one
of the most important of all garden
roles. without at least tolerable grass
one scarcely needs garden at all.
Roses are essential.
These really are shrubs, but have
come to occupy such place In the
modern garden that they are not
grouped with them.
This queen of flowers" is one Of the
most troublesome and difficult to raise,
but one good bloom is worth 1t all.
Perhaps the amateur had better wait
several years before planting roses and
then again perhaps he had better not
The chances are that he will not
wait In this determination every one
interested in gardening will sympathize.
As to which roses to plant from the
hundreds of varieties one must be left
to his own desires. But three very safe
ones are Radiance and Red Radiance
among the bushes and DR.. Van Fleet
among the climbers
A few roses well sprayed and we'll
fertilized will be better for the beginner
than scores Of them. He may be
tempted to "go in" heavily for them,
but he will do well to moderate his
desires at first.
Essential shrubs for every garden are,
in our opinion, lilacs and altheas.
There Is a big choice in lilacs, scores