Evening star., 1936-03-14

tivity, and one Of these, and one Of the
most pleasurable, is in investigation of
unusual plants.
These may be nothing more startling
than alpineS, as the English call rock
garden plants.
They may be herbs, now definitely
"the thing" among garden clubs the
country over. Five years ago no one
could have predicted the great interest
In these plants, some of them of medi-
cal value, which was to come in the
height Of the depression. Whether the
depression had anything to do with it is
a question, but our guess is no.
The revival of interest in the old
fashioned herbs, of one kind and an
other, developed solely because people
everywhere were looking for the un-
usual.
They were tired of roses alone, Of the
gladiolus, of the stately iris, the lovely
peony. Not tired of them, as flowers,
but Of them all alone, as if there could
be nothing else in garden,
There is room for all these beauties,
and the unusual, too, for the beauty of
1t all is that most of these unusual
plants can be put into any garden in
spots hitherto upoccupied.
Scores of wildfowers, as differing from
strict herbal specimens, may be planted
in spaces where few other things will
grow.
Heed must be given, however, to soil,
and to relative shade and sunshine. AS
regards soil, in growing the wildflowers,
usually it must be definitely on the
acid side, since such soil exists in their
natural habitat, beneath trees in woods
where leaves drop year after year.
1t is good advice to any one con-
templating the growing of such speci-
| mems. even on a very small scale, to
devise some means Of determining
whether the plants they intend to use
require definitely acid soil, and, above
all. whether they can supply them with
1t. To do otherwise Is to throw money
away, kill or make miserable otherwise
good plants, and have a record of failure
with some OF the most interesting of all
| plant materials.
Have not most home gardeners who
do not pretend to much, nevertheless
thrown away some of their opportunities
by sticking too closely to the standard,
orthodox and widely beloved plants?
Such are necessary, and certainly
small gardens would be nothing much
without them, but there is plenty of
space, too, in places behind the garage,
where nothing much will grow, in ell
bows of soil not large enough for beds,
but still big enough for something.
The family Of plants called semper-
vivum, with its always interesting variety,
"henS and chickens" was the subject of
an enthusiastic article in garden maga-
zine recently.
Even if you have no rock garden.
where these are the most at home, they
will grow well almost anywhere.
The strawberry begonia is another little
plant which the feminine garden mind,
perhaps. prefers, but which the maScu-
line mind will come in time to admire.
The partridge berry, a favorite for
glass gardens in bowls, is at home in
choice spots in anybody'S home garden.
These are but few, but there are
scores more, which one can find in any
catalog many of them worth trying.
They are small, but they add largely to
garden interest and results. While we
are about it, let us not forget aquatic
plants for the pool. Even an old tub,
sunk in the ground, will do for few Of
these, and many gardener with lovely
roses will nevertheless envy you them
in their season.