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The excitement of a major break through is a rare sensation in the world of horticulture, but that's what the seedsman for Ferry-Morse Seed Company must have felt when he visited a Japanese gardener in Los Angeles back in the mid-1920's. For as long as most people could remember,Chinese giant had been the standard commercial pepper variety. Virtually all bell pepper plants until then were tall, rangy and subject to breakage. The peppers were long, thin-walled and had a rough surface. This gardener had short, stocky plants loaded the smooth, uniform dark-green fruit, almost square in shape.

Reports on the fruit and vegetable garden of Eileen and Ray Sohn in Wisconsin. Selection of a mixture of flowers and vegetables for planting among the raised beds; Application of the compost around the seedlings throughout the season; Use of a two-part system for weed control.

Discusses gardening strategies to people with allergies to dust, pollen or molds. Use of black plastic mulch to keep down the pollinating weeds, dust and molds; Benefits of gardening in the evening; Watering of the soil regularly and thoroughly with a sprinkler.

Details how a strip-mined farm in Pennsylvania was brought back to life by Charles and Martha Oliver. Regeneration of the soil; Efforts to clear away thick briars; Planting of green manures and addition of organic matter; Belief of the Olivers that gardening helps strengthen their marriage; Focus of Charles on flower gardening and Martha on vegetables.

Focuses on different species of champion trees. Champion white oak or Quercus alba in Wye, Maryland; Age of bristlecone pines, native to the American Southwest; Role of old trees in human heritage; List of largest known specimens of species of United States native and naturalized trees by the National Register of Big Trees. INSET: HOW TO BECOME A BIG-TREE HUNTER..

Offers advice on cooking parsley. Features of parsley that makes it ideal as garnishing; Gardeners and cooks' preference for flat-leaved type parsley; Food flavoring; Middle Eastern cultures where parsley is a major ingredient in dishes; Germination of parsley seed; Growing tips; Parsley pasta. INSET: Hamburg Parsley..

Evaluates five multipurpose power tools that can help with lawn and garden chores. Green Machine Expand-It System; Weed Eater XR80 and Sears Weedwacker System; Mantis-20; Multimot System; String trimmer; Blower; Weeder/cultivator; Snow thrower; Edger; Cultivator/hoe; Planter-furrower; Tiller; Lawn aerator; Lawn dethatcher; Hedge trimmer. INSET: Fueling Your Two-Cycle Engine..

Presents the American Hosta Society's Most Popular Hostas for 1996. Frances Williams; Gold Standard; Krossa Regal; H. montana Aureo Marginata; Golden Tiara; H. ventricosa Aureo Marginata.

Describes the transformation of a run-down tenant farmer's house in Oxford, North Carolina into a productive homestead where fruits and vegetables are grown. Regrading of the yard so that it sloped away from the house; Construction of a long, low, perennial-covered bank enclosing the backyard; Conversion of a traditional row garden into raised beds.

Presents ideas about gardening systems and advice on seed-starting. Use of recyclable containers of uniform sizes such as paper or plastic foam coffee cups; Sowing of seeds in soil blocks; Ability of soil mix to hold moisture without becoming water-logged or so tightly packed that it excludes oxygen; Sprouting and growing setups.

Provides information on lilac varieties. Syringa patula Miss Kim variety which is very floriferous; Excel variety considered the best for home plantings; Description of the Sensation variety; Double pink petals of the Edward J. Gardner variety; Gardening tips.

Discusses the use of the terracing as a landscaping technique for coping with troublesome slopes. Conversion of an awkward hill into a landscaping asset; Use of timbers in terracing; Two basic methods of terracing; Marking of terrace boundaries; Estimating the materials to be used; Building of the terrace. INSET: Bracing Large Terraces..

Discusses the agricultural development of the cauliflower. History of the vegetable's discovery and migration to Europe; Attribution of the heat resistant varieties White Empress and Stovepipe to Shigemi Honma of the Michigan State University; Research on suitable fall season crops by Delbert Hemphill Jr.; Development of the Self-Blanche cultivar designed to grow long leaves to cover the heads; Varieties immune to pests. INSET: A Tough Balancing Act..

This article focuses on the backyard and front of the home of two Britishers John Elsley and Billie Elsley. They moved to this home four springs ago. In the new home an 80-feet red and black oaks casted a lots of shade. The first thing they did was to take out five trees in front and four in the back. The previous owners had planted only a few dogwoods, azaleas and a lawn, which was patchy and sparse from the shade and competing tree roots. Elsleys carefully studied the variation of soil and light conditions in different part of the property.

Shares benefits of gardening to Jeff Lowenfels of Anchorage, Alaska. Writing a weekly gardening column in the 'Anchorage Daily News'; Psychological need for green plants of people in Anchorage during wintertime; Expanding the frontier of gardening; Benefits of Alaska's long summer days to gardeners; Caring for heat-loving crops.

Presents houseplants of interest to indoor gardening. Cape primerose holiday hybrids; Dallas fern; Dieffenbachia rebecca; Phalaenopsis toyland; Syngonium flutterby.

This article focuses on Merrill Wilson, a cancer surgeon's passion for gardening. Wilson started his vegetable garden on the one small level spot available, but after two seasons he needed more space. Not wanting to eliminate any ornamental beds or interplant extensively, he chose instead to tackle the difficult job of transforming the brushy slope below the house into workable beds. Wilson grows a wide variety of annuals, all of which he starts from seed in a small greenhouse attached to the house.

The Reverend William Rosenberg, a part-time pastor who lives in the suburban community of Cedar Falls, Iowa, prides himself on being a thrifty gardener. When he bought a pair of rabbits for his grandchildren, instead of periodically carting the rabbit manure to his wire-caged compost pile, he decided to let the rabbits do some of the work and spiff up the compost heap at the same time. The compact structure he built features a compost bin topped by a wire-floored rabbit hutch, which allows droppings to fall neatly onto the pile.