Evening star., 1940-08-18

interest in his favorite flower might
expand and take on commercial
angle.
Gladstone Gardens, with its acres
of thriving and colorful gladioluses,
not only nets Helene a satisfactory
income but affords a regular salary
for her younger brother John, who
assists with the chores and may
decide to become business asso-
ciate of his sister.
Farm Name Significant.
The name is significant, Glad, "
the abbreviation for gladiolus, and
stone" for the abundance of flint
stone on the Aff1eck acreage, and
because through the fathers fam
lily the Aff1ecks are related to Glad
stone, the great English statesman.
Here amid birds and flowers and
close to the good earth she loves,
Miss Afneck is doing her favorite
work and making financial success
of it as well. Besides growing
gladiolus blooms. she attends to
their delivery, chiefly in two and
three dozen lots, except where the
service required is farther away
than Washington and its Metro
politan Area.
For the last three years she has
been shipping many choice blooms
to New England and to the Middle
West, choosing spikes that have
not yet fowered.
Her "glads' occupy two 3-acre
plots in open. sunny spaces. Next
to each plot is another planted in
soybeans which are plowed under
each season to fertilize the soil.
Every three years the plot occupied
by soybeans becomes a gladiolus
bed, thus insuring proper soil con-
ditions for the constantly augmented
species of gladioluses in which Miss
Aff1eck specializes.
Porch Is Workshop.
Among her favorites are the La
Paloma, an exquisite golden -hued
gladiolus; the Picardy with its ex-
tremely large flowers and the Bill
Sowden with its flaming red bios
SONS.
The wide, rear porch of the old
farmhouse, said to have served
Gen. Mcclellan for an overnight
stop on his way to the battle of
Bull Run during the Civil War. Is
now utilized as an outdoor work.
shop. On broad tables with hun
mingbirds darting and wheeling in
the midst of her array of dozens
of deep containers holding gladi-
oluses of every hue, Miss Af1ieck
sorts and arranges them in fasci-
mating color arrangements.
Helene. as she is known to half
the countryside, also has branched
out from growing of gladioluses to
taking charge of the floral ar
rangements for local high school
graduations and neighborhood we'd
dings. Such accessories as candle
stands, prie dieux, tall flower bas-
kets and fascinating bolts of vari-
colored tuile, she keeps in what
was once an old smokehouse, now
converted to it's 20th-century usage
by the exigencies of this floral
executive.
Mother Provides Music.
Miss Affleck's mother, who plays
both the piano and organ, also has
been pressed into service by her
gardener-daughter to supply the
demand for music on these special
occasions. With next spring in mind
she has planted some 10000 mar
cissus and jonquils, as well as many
peony plants, with view to broad
ening her seasonal output. Brother
John is urging his sister to start
growing evergreens and shrubbery
toe.
During the winter it has been her
custom for several years to take
numerous courses in flower arrange
ment, two of which have been at
the University of Maryland. As q
result of her interest in flower ar
rangements and gladiolus growing,
Miss Affleck has accumulated we'll
thumbed library in these fields.
Being the type of city dweller
gardener who revels IN perenniAls
because they 50 nearly take care OF