Evening star., 1944-10-19
This and That
By Charles Z. TrdceWell.
"CHEVY CHASE Nh


Dear Sir:
I was looking out the window this
morning and noticed the marigolds
blooming SO nicely in the yard Here
1t was October and these faithful plants
were blooming beautifully still. They
began IN August and have delighted me
with everything except fragrance These
l have do not possess the very pungent
smell which the old kinds had. For
myself I never found the smell dis
agreeable, but have some friends who
wrinkled their noses terribly.
Il hope you will find it agreeable to
say few words in favor of these old
but ever-new flowers, because they do
flll need, and yet some gardeners pre-
tend to despise them know no more
beautiful sight than their bright orange
or yellow against white picket fence.
Sometimes I think there is a snobberv
among some gardeners which makes
them unable to see the old things even
when they have been improved by the
faithful work of the hybridizers.
Sincerely yours, A. L."
This is happy thought. to have re-
membered the marigolds in the midst Of
war.
They make the imaginative person
think of goldinches, those bright wild
canaries of the bird world
Marigolds have undergone a tre-
mendous change in recent years Not
only has the acrid odor been taken out
Of them, but they have been enlarged
and given new colors.
There now are red marigolds, to set
of the pale lemon yellow sorts
Some critics dislike them because they
are stiff, as they say, but this is factor
which makes the marigold good flower
for mixing in bouquets in vases. Com
bined with various blue flowers, it gives
certain formality which goes very we'll
with more supple stems and blossoms
The marigold is good example of the
usage of any flower, no matter what sort
of stem or petals it has. The stiffness,
rightly mixed with other plants, merely
tends to give certain amount of for
mality which is a good thing.
The foliage of the humble marigold is
beautiful, another point in its favor. No
one flower has everything, as every be-
ginning gardener soon finds out but
this one possesses enough good features
to insure its inclusion in every garden
where the folks are up to date For
there is no plant which has received
more attention from the professionals.
The basic good points were recognized
by them long ago and much work put on
the flower In order to change it for the
better.
This has resulted in startlingly clear.
brilliant cnlnrS Vet cop,hio;yr . ,.r&a;~
SoftnesS which makes the marigold good
fer indoor work, as we'll as in the bor-
ders
AS our correspondent points out. few
sights are more beautiful than a patch
OF modern marigolds against a picket
fence. This fence, too, it may be said.
is coming to the fore again, with the
inability Of home owners to get steel
fencing.
The white picket fence has a tradi-
tlonal place in American life. Edgar
Allan Poe had one around the little
house where he lived with his child
bride. The pickets, by the way, were on
the inside OF the rails, in case any one
Is interested. The preferred modern
method is to put the rails inside, the
pickets outside.
Wnde has become OF cosmos? Ten or
nfteen years ago this was favorite fall
flower, but one seldom sees it in bloom
any more.
And the glorious dahlia is not seen
anyway near as much as it should be.
One good point in favor of marigolds
is that they do well in rather poor soil.
One does not have to worry much about
where they are planted. There is no
dosing of the earth, mixing it, or trying
to get it into shape.
Marigolds stand for almost any sort
OF soil, and even take fair amount of
shade. Wherever placed, they do their
best. Generally speaking, they are free
from insect pests.