Evening star., 1947-03-23

/ full native. Because Of its small size
! it is we'll adapted to Washington city
lots. 1t grows we'll either in shade
or sun, and is interesting for its
| flowers. berries and texture.
An interesting group of exhibits at
Philadelphia showed how small
backyard in a moderately priced
housing development might be
screened for privacy This educa-
tional exhibit explained the many
ways a tiny yard can be given real
privacy.
Another group of educational ex-
hibits at the Philadelphia show was
on gardens designed for all-year en-
joyment, and requiring the mini
mum care Many OF us could benefit
by the examples given in this dis
play, since We often plant our
gardens just for spring effects,
without proper consideration to the
care and maintenance needed toI
keep them presentable and interest
ing.
Water as Central Feature.
Exhibitors in all the shows used
water as a central feature in their
displays. Sometimes only tiny
pool; in others fountain. A few
had waterfalls. Wherever fitting,
water was used to add interest toi
the exhibit.
Several exhibitors used birch trees
to give distance or depth to their
displays. Always trees were placed
to one side, or in the background.
Home gardeners sometimes make
the mistakes of putting birch trees
in the foreground or in the center
of the area thereby losing one of the
main values of birches in the land
scape.
/ For the gardener who likes to ar
range flowers, the big shows have
much to offer. There are so many
different types of artistic arrange
ments that every level of interest
can be satisfied.
CarnatiOn Uses Displayed.
At Philadelphia there was an out
standing exhibit showing all of the
uses to which carnations can be put.
The so-called commonplace carna-
ton was so effectively used that it
could not. under any circumstances,
be considered commonplace. There
were corsages, table arrangements,
festoons and host of other uses
attractively displayed.
At the New York show, Roses,
Inc, had a display showing the
many uses for roses. Then, of
course. there were the competitive
exhibits featuring arrangements,
large and small. formal and in
formal, for particular or ordinary
purposes and with elaborate plant
material or with the simple, every
day things that most people have
available. Flower arrangers easily
could spend days at each show
studying the methods and materials
used by the experts.
Judging by the interest displayed
in the power equipment exhibits it
is evident that the suburban gar
deners are keen for all the new
equipment and gadgets to make gar
dening less a chore and more en-
joyable. The three shows had dis
plays of many types of tractors,
tractor equipment, lawn mowers,
sprinkling devices and other gar
den aids.
AlI-Purpose insecticides.
Another development evident at
the shows is the increasing ten
dency to provide products espe-
cially designed for the small gar
dener. For example, several of the
insecticide manufacturers now fea-
utre "all-purpose" dusts and sprays
designed to permit the control of
insects and diseases with one oper-
alton. OF course they will not
serve the vegetable gardener. the
fruit gardener and the flower gar
dener equally we'll, but they do rep
resent step forward in making the
control of insects and diseases SIM
pie and easy for the gardener who
is not interested in keeping a chem
ical laboratory to protect his gar
den.
The fertilizer people have similar
developments, especially the new
soluble plant foods that are easily
dissolved and applied with the wa
tering can. Thus the necessity of
watering before and after the ap-
plication of regular fertilizer is
avoided. One firm has jar that
can be attached to hose and oper-
ated with a nozzle to enable the
gardener to squirt his fertilizer
wherever needed.
Perhaps the most striking sim
plificst ton is that of material that
can be pegged down on the newly
prepared lawn area. This, it is
claimed, contains grass seed proper
ly distributed. the necessary ferti-
lizer and in addition it anchors the
seed in place so they will not wash
away.
Looks like it might take most of
the guess work and hard labor out
of that new lawn, especially if it is
on 8 slope.
Il