So I gathered a few March vintage magazines and some of my gardening books (ranging from 1906 to 1959) to look for inspiration and practical advice.
Don't you just love the March 1935 Better Homes & Gardens cover art? Now that's what I call Spring!
Now, let's get down to business! A particular "old-fashioned" plant I'd like to add (hopefully this year) is a Rose or two or three. Luckily, there's a helpful article in the March 1958 Household magazine about How to Plant a Rose. Mind you, I don't think I'll be wearing my good shoes to "tamp" the earth around the plant.
One of my favorite gardening books is Garden Book published by Popular Mechanics Press, 1942. In addition to revealing the "secrets of backyard gardening", it's full of fantastic garden, landscaping, and outdoor furniture projects. I like so many of them that it's hard to choose which project to try! However, I'm very tempted by the suggestions for creating "Outdoor Living Rooms". Someday, we'd like to have a great big outdoor barbecue-pavilion-patio area... an outdoor living room, if you will.
And check out these options for a nice BBQ Fireplace! I'm partial to the fieldstone ones, but the brick fireplace on the right is pretty swell too.
Well, now, getting back to the actual garden... I was thrilled to find this in my local grocery store, of all places. It's a blue dahlia. I couldn't resist buying this one. I love dahlias and one of my favorite film noir movies is "The Blue Dahlia" (Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, William Bendix). And it was the only package of the blue variety in the bunch. So you see, it was simply impossible to leave the store without acquiring an actual blue dahlia bulb!
And now, just because I like it, here's a fun garden-related ad I found in the March 1954 Woman's Day magazine... Kate Smith's Garden Special! Who knew you could get free seeds worth 95 cents with the purchase of floor wax?! It was lovely of Kate Smith to think of it ;)
So on this beautiful vernal equinox, I am, as the March 1935 Country Gentleman magazine put it, "Preparing for the Flower Parade". Adding the lovely dahlia, and a few other bulb flowers I recently purchased, to our present garden of daffodils, lilies, butterfly bushes, poppies, hydrangea, lilac, grape hyacinth, iris, and hibiscus will sure make for a colorful Spring and Summer!Happy Gardening! Happy Spring!
