CuHaprTer 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- 
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