Rhyme in Season 
The editor said, ''Do not tarry, 
Get out your ‘rhyming dictionary: 
Your apathy is almost treason— 
We've got to have your Rhyme in Season!" 
So here | am, no inspiration, 
No witty phrase, no smart quotation. 
Is this the end—oh how can this be? 
The worst is, who is going to miss me? 
This last thought's preying on my mind, 
My handkerchief | cannot find, 
Therefore I'll rest my pen today, 
- And do a better job in May. 
Cute 
Buch Coons 
We read in the Bible (if we read the 
Bible) that Goliath was a prodigious man 
but not a particularly admirable character. 
However, when he encountered David, we 
read, David had all the best of it. Indeed, 
that was the last of Goliath. 
~~Sometimes | think we have a tendency 
to regard flowers a little too much from 
the standpoint of their size. Although it 
is true that some flowers are improved by 
being a little larger, it is also true a flower 
can be so small as to seem insignificant. 
On the other hand, some of the most de- 
lighttul flowering shrubs have panicles or 
racemes of small flowers well distributed 
all over the plant, causing a charming gen- 
eral effect. 
| think some of the Cattleya and Cypri- 
pedium Orchids being bred nowadays are 
so large as to be almost intimidating. In 
England, however, where of course they 
are hopelessly old-fashioned, they are ac- 
tually breeding these two Orchids to get 
a smaller flower with good form and good 
color, not the bizarre colors we see in 
these large Cypripediums. Not long ago 
while sitting at lunch at a nearby restau- 
rant, a lady came into the room wearing 
seven of the largest Cattleyas | have ever 
seen in my life. They began under her chin 
and reached about to her waist ("Oh would 
some pow'r the giftie gie us, to see our- 
sels as others see us'']. The effect, to put 
it mildly, was rather distressing. This is not 
supposed to be an indictment of size but 
a plea for grace and beauty, and color and 
form, as well as size. 
IT’S TIME FOR... 
The last spring flowers still in bloom, the 
first flowers of summer, and cuttings of 
Mums for next fall. It is also time for the 
inevitable chores of late spring (spring 
came and hurried by early this year!) and 
more than the usual concern for summer 
shade. 
Our RHODODENDRONS are quite a 
sight this year despite the long, dry spring. 
They vary from pure white through laven- 
der and shell pink to rose and good deep 
reds, $8 and $15 each, especially good 
plants that would be an addition to any 
shade garden with perfect drainage even 
if they never bloomed. But you look at the 
blooms. CINERARIAS and PRIMULA 
POLYANTHUS in pots, the former from 
$1.25 and the latter at $3.60 a dozen, are 
still showy for filling in immediate display. 
The same is true of ASTILBE and BLEED- 
ING HEART, $2 each. 
ROSES in cans are already in Tull bloom. 
We don't have all the named varieties in 
a rose catalog, but we have quite a selec- 
tion, and they are very good — $3 and 
$3.50 each. The first crop of CHRYSAN- 
THEMUMS in plant bands is available, 25 
cents each, and the first of the dwarf-yel. 
low cushion MUMS in cans we have at 
90 cents in bloom; this color continues 
intermittently throughout next fall. For the 
most long-blooming low annuals we nom- 
inate PLGMY MARIGOLDS and AGERA- 
TUM, 45 cents a dozen. In the perennial 
department let us recommend again and 
again ASTER FRIKARTI, VERONICA SPI- 
CATA (lavender and blue, respectively); 
AGAPANTHUS, blue and white; MO- 
RAEA, and the ever-blooming yellow DAY- 
LILY, all 75 cents to $I each. 
A whole article is usually devoted to 
PELARGONIUMS in May, but this year 
these flowers, too, are early. We call your 
attention particularly to Conspicuous, a 
good red; Brentwood, Lady Leslie, Baller- 
ina and Santa Monica in pinks; and the 
incomparable white, Grace Armstrong. (85 
cents and $1.25.) 
Three flowering subjects also blooming 
early are HYMENOSPORUM_ FLAVUM, 
the Sweet Shade, a small to medium tree 
with fragrant, yellow blooms, $1.25 and 
$4; CHIRANTHODENDRON. PLAT A- 
NOIDES, the Monkey Paw Tree, for fast 
tropical foliage, and dark red tulip-shaped 
flowers, each with a yellow-backed hand 
protruding; and BRUNFELSIA EXIMIA, the 
(Continued on next page) 
