Evening star., 1932-06-23
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

real reason for growing beautiful now
ers and succulent vegetables.
We are convinced that much more
harm has been done by shows and
| exhibitions than good has ever been
brought to gardening by such displays,
in which the competitive spirit of man
kind has been worked to . frazzle.
Competition may be the soul of trade,
and 1t may be an essential ingredient
of the hundred-yard dash, and the like,
but to some Of US it seems to have
little place in garden work.
Once let . man or woman get the
competitive idea into his head. in re-
gard to flowers, and thereafter his
garden must produce bigger and bet
! ter" blooms to keep him from groaning
In spirit.
This groaning in spirit is not out
wardly done, OF course. that is why the
garden SHOW" enthusiast may attempt
to say that 1t does not exist at ALL but
1t does exist, and any one who has
known many home gardeners knows
perfectly well the fretful gardener who
Is eternally comparing his plants with
those Of his neighbors, and bemoaning
| the fact that his may not be so large
or so well favored, totally forgetting
facts and factors which account for the
difference.
| II all such persons would change, to
slight extent, their attitude. they
would discover that the real Joy in
gardening comes from greenery. in the
last analysis, rather than from any
combination whatsoever Of the colors
Of the spectrum.
If one cannot get happiness from
gardening according to the mean-that
Is. for color and green-he has no
chance at all in gardening simply for
flowers
His real happiness. therefore, may
lie in the simple determination to
garden for green.
Lest he think for an instant that
this Is a sort Of fleeing, or escaping. let
him rest assured that the best gardens
are embodiments OF some such philoso-
ply. although their gardeners may have
arrived at these tenents without actual
ly intending them
If one will look we'll at any good
garden which has been in the making
tor several years he will be struck at
once by two things
!. The beauty of the lawn
2. The luxuriance of the shrubbery
In the latter may be included ever
greens Of all sorts. especially as inror-
porated In foundation paintings. Also
trees.
With these major greeneries there
will be those Of the towering plants.
Even at the times of blooming Of the
most outstanding perennials. the chief
thing to appeal to the eve, although not
in gaudy show. will be the large amount
OF green which softens the bright colorS
OF flowers and which forms the perfect
background for them.
The interesting point Is that there
Is never any real disappointment in
such . garden. II one type of flower
fails to do we'll the overwhelming
greenery detracts the mind OF the OBJ
server. and makes him see things In
their true relations TO each other.
These roses have the black spot? Dig
them up. then and throw them away.
After all. roses are but part OF any we'll
planned garden
With all your gardening. get green
cry. 1t Is the eternal color of Natures
garden. as manifested In these best of
plants, the weeds. which seem to love
us more than our pampered "cultivat-
ed" flowers.
When they poke their heads through
our fences and spring up. one knows
not how, in places where constant culti-
vation has been going on, they are do
ing their best to inform us. in their
dumb vegetative way. that they repre-
sent the one essential color in any gar
den.
Disregarded and spurned they never
theless insist on pointing out how plants
should grow, how they should make the
best use Of such materials as come to
hand. and how thev should turn food
and water principally into green stun.
to benefit themselves and the eye of
man with the blessed greenery of gar
den and field. one and the same lowell
ness the world over.