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By ALTA HARVEY HEISER Ever since I have been con scious of thinking about it, I have thought of October as my very own month. Perhaps because it is my birthday month. Leaving that out of the reckoning, it is an adorable month. I love the Octo ber leaves, so brave in showing their greatest loveliness during their last hours. Each October, I often whisper the admonition by which I was deeply impressed when, as a young girl, I first heard it: ‘‘So live that, like the autumn leaves, your last days may be the brightest.” October had a splendid start for me this year. The weather was glorious that first day. I had allowed September to slip by without planting my Shirley pop pies — I like for the little plants to ‘‘green the ground” before it freezes. So, on October 1, I sal lied forth a gardening. First, I mixed the seed through a pan of sand. Then I pulled out the pe tunias in the beds I see from my kitchen window, raked over the ground, spread my seeded sand over the surface and raked some more. Such a little thing to do for such lovely results next spring. That afternoon, I further glori fied the day by attending the opening meeting of the 1940-1941 season of our Hamilton Garden club. Mrs. Wallace, with her gra cious friendliness, makes the per fect hostess, and we could have been invited to no lovelier place than the Forest Hills Country club house for an autumn meet ing. The glass-enclosed sides af forded beautiful views of the au tumn-tinted woodland. It was just cool enough to allow of a snap ping wood fire in the big stone fireplace, and the rooms were bright with autumn flowers and brilliant foliage. One of the club members, who has splendid luck with her sprin gers, raised the question of this plant’s family connections. We know it is called asparagus fern, and that the new shoots come up like miniature asparagus tips, but unless we are familiar with all the species it is a little sur prising to learn that sprengeri really is asparagus. Of the 35 va rieties listed by Bailey, our com mon garden asparagus is the one edible variety. It has been culti vated for over 2,000 years. Its roots are long and fleshy while sprengeri has scattered clusters of white tuberous roots. It is easily started from the seeds of the coral-red berries, and is the best asparagus for a house plant. It seems that I made one of my glaring mistakes when I said that buckeyes have no use. This is the first year I have passed up gath ering ours. Thinking I surely must want them, the gardener carefully saved the glossy brown nuts when he raked up the leaves. He filled a basket and left the re mainder in a pile on the ground. These were near my poppy bed and attracted the attention of someone who happened along while I was working there. He spoke of the buckeye portieres once so popular, and said he never would forget how, when a mere boy, he was attracted by those in the T. H. Howell home. That surely was finding a use for them. Pair of Chipmunks On the following morning my attention was attracted by a couple of cunning but pesky little chipmunks scampering about un der the buckeye tree. I often have seen them there, but this time they were decidedly at work. The buckeyes all piled up made it very handy for them, for they were filling their storage cellars, and filling them with buckeyes. Again, I suppose I am only showing my ignorance, but I never had thought of these pretty nuts as edible even for chipmunks. They are welcome to them — I even should be willing to help them store away enough for an army of their ilk, if only they would quit eating the tulip bulbs.
Newspaper Details
Hamilton Cincinnati North Journal
Hamilton, Ohio, US
Wed, Oct 09, 1940
Page 10
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 21 Aug 2026
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