The fact is, the person who doesn't grow them out of love for them will never succeed with them, therefore it would be well for such persons not to attempt their culture. This for the plant's sake, as well as their own. Plants call for something. Plants ask for something more than a regular supply of food and water. They must have that sympathy,—that friendship—which enables one to understand them and their needs, and treat them accordingly. This knowledge will come through intuition and from keen, intelligent observation, such as only a real plant-lover will be likely to give. Those who grow plants—or attempt to grow them—simply because their neighbors do so will never bring to their cultivation that careful, conscientious attention which alone can result in success. The idea of growing a flower because "it is the fashion to do so!"
It may seem to some who read what I have said above that I do not encourage the cultivation of flowers by the masses. That's a wrong conclusion to jump at. I would like to have everybody the owner of a flower-garden. Those who have never attempted the culture of flowers are very likely to develop a love for them of whose existence, of the possibility of which, they had never dreamed. A dormant feeling is kindled into activity by our contact with them. But these persons must begin from a better motive than a desire to have them simply because it is "the style." The desire to succeed with them because you like them will insure success. Those who would have flowers because it is the fashion to have them may experience a sort of satisfaction in the possession of them, but this is a feeling utterly unlike the pleasure known to those who grow flowers because they love them.
I am not a believer in the "knack" of flower-growing in the sense that some are born with a special ability in that line, or, as some would say, with a "gift" that way. We often hear it said, "Flowers will grow for her if she just looks at them." This is a wrong conclusion to arrive at in the cases of those who are successful with them. They do something more than simply "look" at their plants. They take intelligent care of them. Some may acquire this ability easier and sooner than others, but it is a "knack" that anyone may attain to who is willing to keep his eyes open, and reason from cause to effect. Don't get the idea that success at plant-growing comes without observation, thought, and work. All the "knack" you need to have is a liking for flowers, and a desire to understand how you can best meet their special requirements.
In other words, the will to succeed will find out the way to that result.
Just now, while I am at work on the last pages of this book, comes an inquiry, which I answer here because the subject of it is one of general interest: "Every spring our Crimson Rambler Roses are infested with thousands of green plant-lice. The new shoots will be literally covered with them. And in fall the stalks of our Rudbeckia are as thickly covered with a red aphis, which makes it impossible for us to use it for cut-flower work. Is there a remedy for these troubles?"
Yes. Nicoticide will rid the plants of their enemies if applied thoroughly, and persistently. One application may not accomplish the desired result, because of failure to reach all portions of the plant with it, but a second or a third application will do the work.