Evening star., 1936-08-23
About Well Known Folk
In Books, Art, Politics
The Cabinets Most Distinguished Gardener.
London's Lord Bishop Pays America
Another Visit.
BY ROBERT CRAWFORD.
. PRACTICAL gardener who

BY ROBERT CRAWFORD.
(. PRACTICAL gardener who
: A loves flowers. birds. noun.
~ tains, trees and the smell OF
Il \ the soil occupies, among other
multitudinous duties in the cabinet
of President Roosevelt. the position OF
head gardener to Uncle Sam. He Is
one of the most distinguished anna
Fteur gardeners In the country and
when official duties will permit
which is very seldom these days-he
digs about bit in the garden OF his
Chevy Chase home, which ne leased
after the death of his wife. His Of
fetal title is Secretary of the Interior.
His prediction is gardening, and his
hobby is dehlias, of which he has some
10000 bulbs in his bulb garden in
Northern Illinois, on Lake Michigan.
: While Secretary Ickes has originated
several hundred varieties of the ma
.jestic dahlia family, he has honored
sonly one with an official name-and
that is the Anna w. Ickes," named
for his wife, who met a tragic death
:last year in an automobile accident
while pursuing her archaeological
studies in New Mexico. This beauti-
full peach-colored blossom of exquisite
tint, SO tall and regal looking, is from
to 9 inches in diameter and to
inches in depth. It was awarded a
certificate of merit by the American
Dahlia Society in 1927, with score
of So. Mr.. Ickes also has the distinc-
ton of being the first patentee Of a
dahlia under the new plant patent
law, having been granted United
States flower patent No. 49," on July
1e, 1882.
AS administrator of National Parks
and Public Grounds, the Secretary
has been untiring in his efforts for
the preservation of their natural beau
ty, and has directed at all times that
care be taken of the wild flowers, the
birds and the trees. There Is small
doubt about his interest in the lat
ter, for several years ago when he
was in the hospital with a broken
rib, he heard that in developing the
Mall some old trees were about to
be felled. To him they had a historical
significance, so he hurried from the
Naval Hospital and ordered that the
trees be carefully taken up and trans
planted. The rose gardens in Potomac
Park and the flower er-bordered walks
near the river are among his special
delights.
It's Dahlia Time in
Winnetka, Ill.
It's dahlia time in Winnetka now.
In moments of respite from the ardu-
GUS task Of administering the largest
and most varied executive department
of the Government, Uncle Sans
head gardener must often turn
his thoughts to the long. low English
type house surrounded by six and
half acres of gardens and wooded
lawns which he calls home, and to
the gorgeous mass Of thousands OF
danlias that flaunt their flaming beau
tv from late Summer to frost.
Rare old English ivy covers the
rear Of the house and along the front
tall white and purple lilacs reaching
almost to the second story windows I'LL
the rooms with the delicate breath
of Spring. There are window boxes
with varied colored petunias, and
near by jonquiIs, white narcissus and
the delicate Virginia blue bells which
are among Mr.. Ickes' favorite flowers.
The garden at Winnetka is not formal
but irregular, a rectangle uneven IN
form. For some years the owner wAs
his own gardener, but as he expert
mented and added to his planting he
found he must have gardener to help
him. An oil painting in his office to
which his eyes wander, pictures
green bowl filled with dahlias-
orange, scarlet, carmine, yellow, Law
ender and white-and the Secretary
will proudly tell you that he originated
all of them except the white one.
A Delightful Memory
OF Mrs. Ickes.
A delightful memory Of the late
Mrs Ickes is an hour or so spent with
her in the Spring Valley house which
they occupied at the time. 1t was
the Summer before her accident and
she seemed particularly bright and
full of life. She had decided to give
up her political life as Republican
member of the Illinois State Legis-
lature-maybe it was out of courtesy
to her husbands position in the cab
met. At any rate she was free to pur-
sue her favorite study of the Indians
of the enthusiastically New
Mexico. 1t was the archaeological side
of the history of the race that she
was interested in. She had spent many
years in the study of the Indians,
spending several weeks each year
among the Navajo and Pueblo tribes.
That afternoon, among numerous
Indian relics of jewelry and weaving,
she brought out her medicine bum
de-" which contained her line of life
that had been worked out for her by
one of the famous medicine men of
his tribe. It was composed of tuft
of feathers bound around with charms
or symbols. A narrow buckskin rib
bon about q ward long hung from the