CHAPTER XVIII 

 THE MOST DEPENDABLE FLOWERS 



ANY true amateur would find the growing of 

 flowers only along lines of least resistance intoler- 

 ably tame sport. To him no small part of the charm 

 of the pastime lies in the overcoming of difficulties. 

 Whatever is not easy to do, even the seemingly 

 impossible, renews his zeal and spurs him to fresh 

 endeavor. 



But true amateurs are not the greater contingent 

 of those who grow flowers for pleasure ; they are 

 relatively few. Most have not the time, or, lack- 

 ing the necessary enthusiasm, do not care to take it. 

 The really dependable flowers are good enough for 

 them. This is a very sensible attitude above all 

 for the beginner, who has ahead years enough in 

 which to graduate into the amateur class if the light 

 of greater experience shall make such a change de- 

 sirable. Better have prime poppies than consump- 

 tive calichorti. 



Dependable flowers are flowers that can be de- 

 pended upon to thrive in ordinary garden conditions 

 and with ordinary care. With this distinction, 

 ordinary is not to be taken to mean precisely uni- 



