Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1960-09-10


y years are paying more
attention to landscaping.
True, the Federal Housing
Administration . won't insure
.iDans on homes which have
mo basic foundation planting.
But many builders go even
further than this. They have
found that trees, for ex-
ample, are a big selling point.
Quite properly, the home
owner goes on from there to
provide a more lived-in at
mosphere to the lot sur
rounding his home. This
comes with a garden that
stamps the house with its
owners individuality.
4 But there also are sound
economic reasons to budget
for a garden when you buy,
whether the planting is
Simple or elaborate. If the
house should ever be resold,
the garden can become the
frosting on the cake, the
extra selling point.
Z Additional planting can be
the easy-to-maintain type.
Or it can require hours of
inaneuvering. 1t can consist
of evergreen shrubs and
ground covers, or place en-
phasis on annual flowers for
q show of color in the
summer.
Regardless of what your
choice may be, you don't
need to sink a large sum of
money into a garden. If you
are patient and want an
evergreen garden, you can
buy small shrubs and q few
specimens of different types
of ground covers. With time,
the shrubs will grow to full
size, and the groundcover will
spread.
I If you have no patience
! and want an immediate eff
feet, you can go to any we'll
stocked nursery and buy ma
,tured shrubs and endless
quantities of smaller plants.
! But it will cost you much,
much more.
Another route for the
quickie gardener is to plant
ANIMALS. This could involve
either making a cold frame
! and growing the plants from
seeds in the early spring, or
buying bedded plants from a
nursery, later in the warm
season. The reward, Of
J course, is an immediate show
of massed color.
Then, there is the compro-
: mise approach. This way,
you can afford to buy a few
large evergreen shrubs for
accent plants, then go in
heavily for ANIMALS and per-
ennials to provide color.
Through the years the an
nuals can be replaced gradu-
any by perennials and more
evergreen shrubs as the
budget permits.
What will it all cost?
An annual garden can be
had for the small cost that
goes into buying a few pack
cts of marigold, zinnia and
, other plant seeds. This
could be hardly more than d
/ dollar.
The approach that calls
for small evergreen shrubs,
Towering and otherwise,
i costs more. A good basic
evergreen garden-using i'm
mature stock-can be started
for as little as $75 or 500.
The compromise garden
with ANIMALS and a few ever
. green shrubs of larger size,
and perhaps some perennials,
might well be started for as
little as $50.
The care-free matured
evergreen garden, using such
shrubs as azaleas, camellias
and rhododendron, can run
into big money, considering
that a full-sized azalea may
cost as much as $25 or more.
But more must be done
than Just to plant things"
in the ground. The planting
must be related to the house
and the site on which the
house Is built.
For instance, there are too
many new homeowners-in-
experienced in the art of
landscaping - who forget
that garden exists more
than for it's appearance.
Present philosophy-par-
ticularly in the Washington
area where outside living ex-
tends over much of the year
calls for a garden that is