THE UNIVERSAL FLOWER 
A GAIN the Dahlia! What a flower of inspiration it 
/% " has been and is. Within the last few years lifted 
/ 1 suddenly into prominence, it is perhaps the most 
/ % thoroughly popular garden flower for the amateur 
-*■ ^ throughout the entire length and breadth of the land. 
Growers on the Atlantic Coast and equally on the Pacific Coast, 
to say nothing of the intermediate distances, eagerly vie with 
each other each year and with great expectations await the 
comings of the novelties in this great regional interchange of 
gifts. 
In the North and in the South it adorns every garden, big and 
little. The Dahlia is indeed the ilower par excellence of the 
•every-day American gardener. It is fostered by two equally 
big societies, one on the Pacific Coast, one on the East, at whose 
annual exhibitions there foregather the enthusiastic growers, 
originators, and amateur cultivators of the flower. This can 
be said of no other flower of our gardens. 
It has just enough of the mysterious about it to make it fasci¬ 
nating and it is quick enough in its results to continually feed 
the zest on which it grows. More power to the Dahlia! 
It is an exceptional plant in another respect. Whereas the 
garden is generally in the domain of the woman as is evidenced 
by the memberships of the Garden Clubs everywhere, yet this 
flower entices the men into the garden and to the exhibitions. 
They, equally with the women, join as connoisseurs of the Dahlia. 
It is a good place to begin and from it other gardening sym¬ 
pathies are aroused. 
Having seen the glory of the garden in its autumn blaze of 
color from the Dahlia, the desire naturally grows to do something 
to furnish the garden at other periods of the year, and thus the 
whole garden season is benefited by the activity of the fall. The 
Dahlia is the greatest garden missionary of the day. 
BEAUTY VERSUS BILLBOARDS 
W ITH unreserved rejoicing do all the gardeners greet the 
concentrated effort (see pages 227-228 of this issue) to do 
away with the billboard so noxious to our countryside, so de¬ 
structive to the peace which a distraught public vainly seeks, 
coming literally by thousands on Sabbath days and holidays 
out of the turmoil of cities to the healing and re-creation of 
quiet green spaces. 
Life without beauty would be pitifully poor indeed and in a 
stupid hankering after pence let us not squander the unbuyable 
riches which are the birthright of us all—the sight of mountains 
in tranquil evening mood, wide fields that sing in sunshine, the 
glow of roadside Goldenrod, and the gleam of Dogwood in 
spring. These things let us keep and increase and bequeath, 
and to this end let us plan and plant—but first of all must we 
abolish the billboard! Congratulations and hearty good-will 
to the groups of gardening citizenry now lending their united 
strength to this selfless endeavor. 
THE OPET{^ C olum:a L 
Readers’ Interchange of Experience and Comment 
Interested in Apples 
To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 
T HE letter of D. S. Hughes, writing from Ontario, Canada, in the 
July Garden Magazine (page 274) excites my interest and curios¬ 
ity; and I am anxious to get into touch with him about the Porinate 
apple.— James Grant, IV. goj Sharp Av., Spokane, IVash. 
One of Nature’s Winter Bouquets 
To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 
V ERY lovely are winter bouquets of painted Milkweed pods, but 
for nature unadorned give me the dried blossoms of the Hydrangea 
Hills of Snow in the last stages of their development (when they 
turn various shades of brown), combined with the dried pink seed- 
pods of what I am told is commonly known as the Water Maple. The 
pods resemble those of the Locust in form. The Water Maple grows 
wild in this vicinity.— Mary Rutner, Traverse City, Michigan. 
Muscari in Montana 
To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 
F IVE years ago a neighbor gave me her surplus of Muscari. These 
were set singly twelve inches apart in a triangle about twelve 
feet each way—one row. These have so increased that two dozen 
blooms cut within twelve inches would hardly be missed. Perhaps 
they increased from seed. Finer flowers may be had from bulbs grown 
singly, but 1 prefer them naturalized. 
In my shaded north corner a Virginia Creeper lives and sends its 
questing tendrils further and further each year. The base is hidden 
by smaller things and the basal leaves are sometimes a foot and a quar¬ 
ter across. 
A small colony of Smilacina flourishes here in close quarters with 
a Violet which I have not yet found described in any catalogue, d here 
is a beautiful plant of Aquilegia caerulea in the shadiest place, with 
dozens of seedlings around her; many other long-spurred hybrid 
Columbines—one, a seedling with a flower more like the Annual 
Larkspur than anything I can think of, is being detained for observa¬ 
tion. There are also Brake Ferns; a small Fern which was found cling¬ 
ing to a rotting board in full sun; and Lily-of-the-Valley struggles for 
right-of-way over everything. This year a seedling Delphinium has 
established itself, but will be ousted—too arrogant for such a situation as 
the bed is not more than 6x12 inches its widest dimensions.— Rose¬ 
mary Meagher, Missoula, Montana. 
Of Hydrangeas, Iris, and a Banksia Rose 
To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 
A PROPOS of Hydrangeas—if, as you suggest, difference in lime 
content of the soil may be responsible for the change of coloring 
in my Hvdrangeas, how do you explain the presence of both pink and 
blue cymes on the same bush? In my garden Cupolans filetens again 
this year had blossoms of the richest blue and at the same time bore a 
few blossoms of lavender pink. Hortensis Rosea, just four feet away, 
bore blossoms of deep pink and an analysis of the soil showed little or 
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