120 MY GROWING GARDEN 



cer sorts are wonderfully fine and large. As I have 

 previously remarked, I now prefer more, of less 

 sorts, rather than to grow many kinds. 



We pick, and pick, and pick these sweet peas, 

 knowing full well that they will give us more 

 flowers if we take more, and fewer if we permit 

 nature to quickly complete the reproductive cycle 

 by making seeds. Yet they get away from us; for 

 the bloom abundance is surprising. 



I have tried to imitate the presumably perfect 

 English methods by deep preparation, rich soil, 

 plenty of water; and, after the plants are in bud, 

 by a heavy mulch of dried grass to shade the soil 

 and keep the roots cool. Yet before long the vines 

 die out along the lower part, and the flowers soon 

 dry up. What matter? We've had a perfect glory 

 of bloom, and sweet peas galore have graced our 

 home and the homes of our friends. 



Consider the hollyhock; how it grows ! It seems 

 both to toil and to spin, and then in result to be 

 clothed in a gorgeousness to which the Solomon's 

 glory would be mere manufacture. It is called an 

 "old-fashioned" flower, for some reason, as if there 

 were any really new-fashioned flowers on this old 

 earth; yet the hollyhocks of today are entirely 

 "up-to-date" in clear color, fine form and in the 

 plant's stately habit. It is the finest of the spire- 



