206 OCTOBER 



these seven years that have elapsed since I first 

 took my garden in hand. It would be quite easy 

 to make a respectable list of plants that never go 

 wrong, of which I might take as a type the orange 

 pot-marigold, called calendula officinalis, or the 

 common Michaelmas daisy, which hold their own 

 with the rankest weeds. But the question the 

 earnest gardener should ask is not "What can I 

 grow?" but "Why have I failed to grow such-and- 

 such things?" If we decline on the lowest plane 

 of floriculture we shall have no difficulty in getting 

 flowers, but whether these will be worth growing 

 or not is quite a different matter. 



The answer to the question which I have 

 indicated is not always easy to find. Frequently, 

 of course, the difficulty lies in the nature of the 

 soil, or in the position of the border. But these 

 disabilities more often than not cannot be avoided. 

 Another and a more likely reason may be the 

 grower's ignorance of the necessities of the plant. 

 For instance, it would be foolish to try to grow 

 annual sunflowers in a four-inch pot on a window- 

 sill in Bayswater, and no one who knew what the 

 sunflower likes and dislikes would attempt such 

 a thing. The difficulty of getting fine blossoms 

 would be insuperable. But there are difficulties 

 which are not insuperable, and a few of these may 

 be worth considering. 



The gardener, like the meteorologist, must be 

 always looking ahead. To think of the future 

 is a necessary preliminary to success ; to forget 

 it is to court failure. Every gardener should take 

 as a motto the word " Prepare." Prepare for the 



