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The ss Grapevi 
VOL. 4 Pali MARCH. 1954s 
IT’S TIME FOR... 
Cinerarias; the endless spring-blooming 
perennials, shrubs and trees; a few special 
bulbs; and garden maintenance geared to 
special weather. 
Our Walter Oe¢crtel-grown Cinerarias, 
every spring a phenomenon at Evans and 
Reeves, are as fine as ever despite Febru- 
ary heat—incomparable blues, pinks pale 
and deep, white, wine, magenta, and mul- 
ticolored—low bedding types at $3.60 a 
dozen in three inch pots, specimens from 
$1 each. Even a few of the larger ones 
will brighten your shade garden for two 
months or more depending upon weather 
and water. Most years one can give them 
full morning sun in the immediate coastal 
area, but if dry burning sun continues 
more shade and water are musts. Heat 
rolls the leaves, and the roots must NEVER 
dry out even for an hour. Try a fine fog 
spray of water twice a day in hot weather, 
but remember heavy overhead sprinkling 
will topple the blooms into mud. 
The same situation and handling suit 
Primula of all kinds. P. polyanthus, the pe- 
rennial Primrose, (35 cents each, $3.60 a 
dozen) is coming into its long season now 
and you won't believe the color range 
unless you come in and look. The natural 
companion for Cinerarias, P. polyanthus 
should be permanent in your garden if 
you keep down snails and later the tiny 
green hairless caterpillars (with snail bait 
and malathon or chlordane). 
Other choice shade perennials it's time 
to plant include Bleeding Heart and As- 
tilbe, $2: Helleborus orientale, from $ | 
and H. corsicus, $2.50; and the evergreen, 
intermittently-blooming groundcovers 
Schizocentron elegans, cerise to magenta, 
$1.25; Erodium, almost flat mounds of pale 
pink, 85 cents; and Campanula in variety 
—blue or white—trom 40 cents. 
While still in the shade let's remember 
some shrubbery — Daphne ordora, white 
or pink, $2 and $7.50; specimen Rhodo- 
dendrons, $15; and_ spring - blooming 
(Continued on inside page) 
PeEvine 
Ca 
TREE WITH A PAST 
Legend has it that Buddha attained per- 
tect knowledge while resting in the shade 
of the Bo-tree. (Botanists have recognized 
this distinction in naming the tree Ficus 
religiosa.) This took place in faraway India 
some 2500 years ago, and though an an- 
cient nine-story temple ultimately replaced 
the original sacred tree, its life was con- 
tinued by means of a branch which was 
sent by King Asoka to the city of Anur- 
adhapura in Ceylon in the third century 
B.C. The tree still flourishes in the ruins of 
that city, and is the constant object of 
worship by followers of Buddha, who jour- 
ney to its shade and treasure its fallen 
leaves. This extraordinary tree has been 
tended through all the centuries by the 
priests of Buddha, and must therefore be 
the oldest tree of which there is a con- 
tinuous record kept by man. Its welfare is 
literally a matter of daily concern to the 
faithful, to whom it reflects at once the 
strength and serenity of Buddha. This Bo- 
tree passed through some sort of cultural 
crisis just a few short years ago, which 
caused great anxiety and consternation in 
Ceylon where its behavior was given liberal 
interpretation in terms of world unrest. 
In spite of its tropical origin, Ficus 
(Continued on inside page) 
