LADYBUG: LADYBUG READY TO `FLY AWAY' AFTER 35 YEARS OF WRITING GARDEN COLUMN

Ladybug, ladybug fly away home

Your house is on fire

And your children are gone

All but one and her name's Anne

And she flew away with an Air Force man.

(Pardon the poetic license. this sounds better than "She crept under the Puddin' Pan___.)

That is how it was some 26 years ago when our Anne Elizabeth (Bunny) flew away on her wedding day to Bangkok, Thailand, where her new husband was based in the Vietnam War.

After they lived in San Francisco, Montgomery, Ala., Albuquerque, N.M., Valdosta, Ga., Frankfurt, Germany, Biloxi, Miss., Charleston, S.C., and Marietta, Ga., where they "lit" and have remained for 11 years. All of these have been delightful vacation spots.

This has brought up the point of this story. After 35 years, the Ladybug has decided to "fly away." This is my last column.

It has been a long way from schoolteacher and proofreader to a garden columnist, slipping into this position almost without realizing what was happening.

Sometime in 1941, the late Juel Moseley, editor of The Missourian, suggested that because I had taught school, I might be interested in coming in on Saturday mornings to relieve one of the two proofreaders so they might alternate Saturday mornings off in order to have a long weekend.

Until World War II started and my husband went into the service, this arrangement continued. At that time the newsroom was downstairs off Broadway and Lorimier, and the proof room held only two or sometimes three people and was located near the composing room.

Following the war, when we were away from Cape Girardeau for about 2 1/2 years, I returned to proofreading. The news and composing rooms had been moved upstairs. Somehow, I worked my way into the newsroom on a part-time basis, filling in on a desk when someone was called away on assignment or was absent.

Mr. Moseley often brought gardening information to my desk to be condensed or rewritten, and these little "briefs" were used as fillers in the news columns.

Also at this time, the late Mrs. Arla Harris and the late Mrs. Gladys Stiver, both great horticulturists and founders of the Rose Display Garden in Capaha Park, made contributions of garden columns to the paper. Both brought them in written in longhand and it was my responsibility to type them.

When unused "briefs" would accumulate, we would put them into a column, which had a different heading each time. It was Judith Ann Crow who suggested Ladybug as the name for the column. As Judy said, "A ladybug is a good gardener." Charles R. Werner, artist for the paper, designed the feminine ladybug, complete with long eyelashes and high heels, that was used as the heading for "Ladybug says ..." for many, many years.

In 1964 I became a member of the Garden Writers Association of America. Two members of the organization must recommend a new member. Clarissa Start, garden editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and the late Nelson Coon of Martha's Vineyard, Mass., an authority on violets and pansies and who had written several books, were responsible for my membership.

Through the association with GWAA, my husband and I attended many field trials, seed company gardens and display gardens at our own expense.

Among the places visited were field trips to Ball Seed Co. of Chicago; Geo. W. Park Seed Co. of Greenwood, S.C.; Scott Seed Co. of Marysville, Ohio; Morton Arboretum, Lisle, Ill.; Callaway Gardens of Pine Mountain, Ga.; Bellingrath Gardens of Theodore, Ala.; and Williamsburg, Va.

Flower garden visits have always been a part of our travels. In Costa Rica we visited greenhouses where hybridizing was being done in 14 houses of impatiens. Rose Gardens in Portland, Ore., were a special treat, and in Canada, Mintor Garden and Butchart gardens in British Columbia.

When in England, we visited the Shakespearian Country gardens and Kew Garden and attended the Chelsea Flower Show in London. Keukenhoof Garden and the Floiade Flower Show were visited in Holland.

At the Botanical Garden of Frankfurt, Germany, we were pleased to see Raspberry Ripples and other irises, hybridized by our neighbor, O.D. Niswonger, who is internationally known for his work with iris, daylilies and daffodils. Currently, he is the president of the National Iris Society.

Being a member of the working press has taken us to many interesting places where we have met many outstanding people. In St. Louis we attended a press meeting for the late actress Eva Gabor, whom the St. Louis Rose Society was honoring, when a yellow tea rose was named in her honor.

Also, in St. Louis, we saw Calvin Lamborn of Gallatin Seed Co. of Idaho known for his development of three varieties of Sugar Snap Peas. We also attended a lecture by Jim Wilson of The Victory Garden fame, which was held at Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Ga.

On a small scale we did our own test garden. Often seed companies sent members of GWAA new seeds for trials. With good friends, Nada Nagel and her daughter, Janet, the seeds would be planted and then I would report the results of growing them here in the hot, dry summers of the Midwest.

For many years seeds of new and outstanding pansies were tested for Sakata Seed Corp. of Yokohama, Japan. Until his death at age 94, there was personal correspondence with Mr. T. Sakata, founder of the company. He took a special interest in our host family program at Southeast Missouri State University and that we often entertained young Japanese students and followed them through their careers.

Where did subjects for columns come from? Often from you, the readers. There were often questions that could not be answered, so research was necessary. Frequently the questions were taken to two of the greatest horticulturists ever, Henry Ochs, who for many years had a greenhouse, and Dr. Charles H. Korns, professor of horticulture at Southeast Missouri State University.

How did I become a gardener? It is in the genes. All of my father's family have been orchardists and when there were family gatherings, the conversation's topics were dormant sprays, pruning, budding, grafting, fertilizing and other subjects pertaining to orchard maintenance and care. Our grandfather was one of the first to grow apples and peaches in Southern Illinois.

Six of the seven sons of Christopher Jerimiah Boyd were orchardists; the seventh became a doctor. Now, some of the descendants are in their fourth generation of fruit growing.

Imagine our surprise last week to find Blushing Golden apples on the local market. This apple was developed by my cousin, the late Claude Boyd, about 20 years ago in his orchard just west of Jonesboro, Ill., on Highway 146. It was developed there and later the patent was sold to Starks Bros. Nursery of Louisiana, Mo.

Also in the genes is the love of flowers. Both grandmothers had beautiful flower gardens and our dear little mother did not always have a new hat for Easter, but she always had a new iris or daylily each year. In her garden, which bordered the vegetable garden, she had a "white spot." All of the flowers that grew there were white, beginning with the first crocus, following by daffodils, tulips, iris, phlox, daisies and chrysanthemums until frost. It was one of her greatest pleasures to bring these flowers into the house or share them with friends from her "white spot."

Myfavoritebrother Carl also has been a great horticulturists. His education has been reading, doing and attending horticultural meetings throughout Illinois. Although confined to a wheelchair for 13 years, he still grows a small, but most productive vegetable garden and beautiful flowers.

Another reason to "fly away" is that the Ladybug is not (and has no thought of being) a part of the computer age. There is no intention of being a part of fax or Internet. When 5-year-olds are being taught to use that mysterious machine in kindergarten and it seems like a foreign language to me, don't you think it is time to say "enough"?

For many years, Angela Lansbury and I used the old manual Royal typewriter before she joined the computer world. About five years ago an electric typewriter replaced the old Royal. This new royal 25/45/45T Electronic typewriter features easy to change printwheel cassettes, line spacing of 1, 1 1/2 and 1 lines, full electronic tabulator with 16 setting, full line correction memory, and countless other features, which is enough for me because I mostly use the back spacer and eraser.

All of the many other things are there is they are needed and someday they will be mastered, but this is near enough to the computer for this Ladybug.

So in this, my final column, I wish to express my gratitude for your interest and following these many, many years. It has been my pleasure to relay gardening information to you and to have your comments, questions and appreciation.

Now this is my farewell and "I'll fly away"...

The Ladybug

~Mary Blue is a resident of Cape Girardeau and an avid gardener.