A prep course for the month-long World Cup soccer tournament, a worldwide pheno

ties . Today , the tradition of cut-flower beds as part of the backyard garden c

ontinues in many parts of the world , especially Europe . In American gardens , 

however , the practice of planting or sowing a flower bed specifically for harve

sting stems is still a scarcity . Yet there is a demand for cut flowers : Witnes

s the success of market gardeners and farmers who sell them at farmers ' markets

 . Flowers for cutting are grown in the same enriched garden soil that suits har

d-working vegetable varieties : plenty of organic matter , a neutral pH ranging 

from 6.5 to 7.5 , good drainage and a tilled or dug depth of six to eight inches

 . A boost of organic fertilizer before seeds are sown or seedlings planted is a

lways a good idea . The cut-flower garden , like the vegetable garden , will req

uire periodic applications of the same fertilizer , when plants are 2 to 3 weeks

 old , again one month later and finally in early September . I prefer organic f

ertilizers because they don't cause excessive foliage growth at the expense of f

lower production . A formula containing nitrogen , phosphorus and potassium ( N-

P-K ) within a couple of numbers of each other ( 5-4-2 or 8-6-4 , for example ) 

is good . And there is a wonderful forgiving quality about organic fertilizers :

 The concentrations don't have to be precise . Cut-flower gardens are less flexi

ble when it comes to sunlight . The sunnier the better . They will still flower 

in partial shade but full shade will be a bust . This doesn't mean you have to g

ive over the choicest sunny spot in the garden to them many blooms will fit into

 a small area , say , four feet square . Also , they can be planted within or ar

ound the vegetable garden or in an existing border . The flowers themselves can 

be a combination of annuals and perennials or all annuals . The goal is to have 

a variety of flowers blooming at all times . It can take years of trial and erro

r and of effort and patience to achieve this in a perennial garden ; but with an

nuals , which bloom continuously all summer , getting a good selection for indoo

r bouquets is nearly instantaneous , once plants are established . In selecting 

flowers , consider what you want , whether it is ease of care , height , scent ,

 color or flower form . The availability of plants in garden centers also will i

nfluence what will go into the cut-flower garden , although many excellent annua

ls can be sown from seed now and still produce a spectacular show by midsummer .

 Plants that grow tall are more versatile as cut flowers than dwarf or miniature

 varieties . Flower stems on tall varieties are generally longer than on small o

nes and the foliage itself can contribute to dramatic arrangements . In this reg

ard , cosmos stands out as one of the most desirable and useful of the cutting f

lowers . Easily grown from seed , this rugged annual belies the delicacy of its 

bloom and foliage . Cosmos comes in a range of colors and even styles . There ar

e two distinct strains , one producing sunny yellow , gold and orange ruffled bl

ooms and the other sporting fragile-looking daisy-faced blossoms in shades of de

ep red , pink , purple , lilac and white . Today 's varieties include scalloped 

, ruffled , single and double flowers . All make stunning cut flowers , either a

lone or in combination with others . Depending on the variety , cosmos ranges in

 height from two to five feet , and the taller and most commonly available ones 

will need support , either against a wall or trellis or with caging . For scent 

, nicotiana is a good choice . This aromatic member of the tobacco family produc

es a profusion of slightly trumpeted , open-faced blooms , varieties ranging in 

color from deep red to white , with pinks in between . There is a dwarf version 

, which gets up to about two feet tall ; the traditional form grows to three or 

sometimes four feet . Other scented annuals that lend themselves to cutting incl

ude stock , sweet peas and nasturtium . For sheer endurance , one of the most re

liable annuals is the zinnia . For some reason there seem to be fewer choices of

 this trusty variety than there once were ; I can remember when catalogs routine

ly devoted two or three pages to the zinnia . Cut and Come Again is perhaps the 

most durable of the zinnias , yielding an abundance of brilliant , multicolored 

blooms between two and three inches across , borne atop stiff stems throughout t

he summer . Their name reflects reality the more you cut them , the more they 'l

l bloom . Generally , this rule applies to all annual flowers . The cut-flower g

arden is primarily a harvesting garden , handled the same way as tomatoes or str

awberries . If flowers are left to mature into seed pods , plants will tend to s

top blooming . In addition , virtually all the annuals withstand and even benefi

t from severe pruning of the sort that accompanies harvesting for bouquets folia

ge and all . Cutting flowers that can be sown from seed now include cosmos , zin

nia , nasturtium , honesty and sunflowers . Dahlia tubers also can be planted ; 

be sure to add plenty of decomposed organic matter , such as old leaves . Flower

s to put in as plants include gerbera , dahlia , dianthus , cockscomb , statice 

and daisies . Drying for winter arrangements takes special techniques , but a gr

oup known as everlastings dry naturally . They include honesty , pearly everlast

ing , globe amaranth , strawflower and statice .

 Stock up on beetle traps now if you had problems with Japanese beetles last yea

r . In mid-June traps should be put in place , well away from prized plants . Tr

aps put too close to plants will result in much-greater damage from beetles than

 if no controls are used .

 The following editorial appeared in Monday 's Washington Post : Having taken a 

week off , Congress returns to the subject of health-care reform with none of th

e problems having become any easier or gone away . There continue to be two cont

radictory goals to expand the health-care system while containing its cost . The

 president has wrapped himself in the first of these . He wants universal covera

ge , from which he and his aides believe all else will follow . Politically that

 may be the best way to proceed . You order the lunch and only then discuss the 

price . But this is the wrong way around . Congress , following the president 's

 lead , has tended to put the question of cost containment aside for the moment 

. Yet health-care costs are eating up every budget in the country , crowding out

 much else . That 's as true for businesses and too many families as it is for t

he federal and state governments . Without cost containment , the country can't 

afford even the health-care system it has , much less an expanded one . Here is 

a Congress nervous about imposing either employer mandates or new taxes , but no

t wanting to discuss serious cost containment , either . How else does it propos

e to raise the large amount of money that expanded coverage will cost ? Cost con

tainment means saying no , at some point , to someone . There are only so many w

ays to do it , and each has its detractors . The president would rely in the fir

st instance on a system of regulated competition health plans competing for busi

ness in large pools on the bases of quality and price . As a backup he would loo

k to premium caps limits on the amount that insurance premiums could go up each 

year . The effect would be to limit the funds available to the health-care syste

m and thereby total health-care spending . Critics oppose such premium caps on g

rounds they would amount to either government rationing or government price cont

rols , take your pick . The so-called single-payer system is likewise denounced 

on grounds that it would give too large a role to government . The alternative i

s said to be managed competition , which relies much more on market forces . But

 it , too , is denounced on grounds that it would end up giving too much power t

o the insurance companies that are busily transforming themselves into managed-c

are providers . Congress has thus far finessed the issue . The debate there has 

mainly been about constructing a benefit system : Who should be guaranteed what 

, and who should pay ? Those indeed are difficult questions , but Congress has c

reated benefit systems before ; it knows how to answer them . Not so with regard

 to cost containment ; that 's new territory and will be the great test as Congr

ess tries between now and October to write a bill . Health care today consumes a

 seventh of all the dollars Americans have to spend , and the figure is said to 

be rising toward a fifth . That 's too large a share . A bill to broaden the hea

lth-care system without at the same time containing its cost would end up doing 

the country more harm than good .

 BURBANK , Calif. Renate Leuschner handles hair the way a grocer handles fresh e

ndive , the way a haberdasher fingers Italian silk . Each time her supplier rece

ives a new shipment of human hair , in cropped bundles , she hurries down to pic

k through the lot . `` The best hair comes from poor countries where the women s

till wear it long and will sell it , '' Leuschner says . `` These women get paid

 almost nothing . '' Some strands are too thick and difficult to weave . Dark ha

ir must be chemically treated , bleached and dyed , making it stiff . Only fine 

brown and blond locks from Eastern Europe suffice . This stock ends up , sorted 

by length and color , in clear plastic containers that line the shelves of Leusc

hner 's Burbank studio . And this is where well-known actors come when they need

 a wig to make them look curly or sexy or prim , when they need a wig to look li

ke they were born on a different continent or in a different era . In this tiny 

workshop down the driveway , through the back yard and above a three-car garage 

Hollywood 's fantasies are reduced to the stuff of their facades . Sharon Stone 

amounts to nothing more than a pile of brown and blond bundles . Robin Williams 

is a dummy 's head , carefully measured , made of gray cloth and featureless . `

` And big , '' Leuschner says . `` Robin , even for a man , has a big head . '' 

Theater and wigs share a long history . Greek characters marked themselves by th

e color of their coif : black for the tyrant , blond for the hero and red for th

e comic servant . Modern actors don wigs to protect their natural hair from stag

e lights and to avoid the damage of continual cutting , styling and coloring wit

h each new role . The hairpieces they purchase from Leuschner are custom-fitted 

and hand-sewn , strand by strand , at a price of $ 3,000 . On a recent morning ,

 the wig-maker and her two young assistants , Natascha and Hildegard , hurried t

o finish an order of seven wigs for a fashion show . The girls were sewing while

 their mentor brushed and clipped a completed piece . There was very little talk

 , all of it in thick accents , while insistent Chopin played from a stereo in t

he corner . Scissors and combs lay scattered about the place , along with gray h

ead forms . In addition to the Williams facsimile , used for his `` Mrs. Doubtfi

re '' curls , there were faceless likenesses of Bette Midler , Nicole Kidman and

 Tom Cruise , who needed a wig for `` Interview With a Vampire . '' Demi Moore w

as there in form too . `` Tiny head , '' she says . `` You can hardly mistake he

r for anyone else . '' The names of actors mark many of the containers on the sh

elves : Ann-Margret , Melanie Griffith , Carol Burnett . Other containers are no

ted by color : `` Light blond to medium light blond . '' Each wig that Leuschner

 makes begins with a fitting session , during which she measures the actor 's he

ad and takes note of his or her facial features . Perfectly even hairlines are g

ood . Wide foreheads are bad . Oval faces , yes . Round faces , no . Cher , it s

eems , was put on this earth to wear a wig . Next comes a form-fitting lace cap 

, the edges of which can be blended into skin with makeup . Hair is sewn into th

is cap in much the same way a rug is hooked , one strand at a time in front and 

several at a time in back . ( Begin optional trim ) To look real , a wig must in

clude strands of various shades and the roots must be darker than the ends . A b

rown wig , for example , will contain a quantity of brown hair as a base , with 

darker and lighter strands to provide the highlights . But before the sewing beg

ins , a sample of the hair must be screen-tested . Bright lights and camera filt

ers can alter hue . When Bette Midler was cast as a witch in the 1993 film `` Ho

cus Pocus , '' she ordered a red wig from Leuschner . Midler 's scenes were shot

 in dim lighting to simulate night and a truly red wig would have shown up purpl

e on film . Renate used strands that were dyed fire-engine red and orange . Once

 the color is perfected , the hair is sewn onto its lace cap . This can take a w

eek or more and is often performed by the assistants . `` I like hair , '' Hilde

gard says . Then Leuschner must return to the movie set to fine-tune the styling

 . For `` Mrs. Doubtfire , '' the fine-tuning required numerous visits . `` We h

ad to adjust certain things to make him look feminine and not like a drag queen 

, '' she says . `` Honestly , it wasn't easy . '' ( End optional trim ) Trained 

as a stylist in her native Germany , she came to Hollywood and grabbed the only 

job she could find , in a wig shop . In 1972 , she was hired to work on `` The S

onny and Cher Comedy Hour '' which , short of garnering an exclusive contract wi

th Dolly Parton , was pretty much the Valhalla of wig-making . `` I 've made 100

 , maybe 120 wigs for Cher over the years , '' Leuschner explains . `` She has a

lways been my major client . And when I was doing that show , everyone wanted to

 look like Cher , so that 's how my business got started . ''

 HOLLYWOOD James Garner does not go to the movies . `` Ohhh , I don't like to si

t there too long , '' he explains in a perfect Jim Rockford-esque grumble of a d

rawl . `` I don't like the crowds , I don't like to get out of the house if I do

n't have to . Parking. It 's such a chore . '' Yet , here he sits in the Hotel B

el Air dining room , cheerfully saying you 're going to want to do all those thi

ngs to see his new movie , `` Maverick . '' `` It 's going to be a kick , '' he 

says . `` We did have a ball making it . I asked ( director ) Dick Donner the se

cond week , ` We 're having so much fun , are we laughing ourselves into trouble

 here ? ' ' ' It has been 37 years since Warner Bros. officials called over to J

apan where Marlon Brando was filming `` Sayonara '' and asked the producers to h

urry up and send home a young contract actor , James Garner , to play Bret Maver

ick in their new television series . By the time Garner was finished with `` Mav

erick , '' the tongue-in-cheek Western had supplanted most others and Garner was

 on his way to being a star . `` Well , we just killed Westerns , '' Garner says

 chuckling . When a character once declared `` He went that-a-way , '' Maverick 

looked at him and deadpanned , `` And you know a shortcut , right ? '' In fact ,

 `` Maverick '' established two seminal things about Garner . One was that he is

 brazen enough to stand up to a studio in a legal battle . ( Long before his fam

ous 1980s suit against Universal , he successfully sued Warners for laying him o

ff his 52-week contract during a writers ' strike . ) The second was that he is 

the master of the wry , bemused everyman character . In the four decades of his 

career , Garner has proved to be one of the most enduring and endearing actors i

n the business , accessible enough for television , commanding enough for movies

 , unpretentious enough for commercials . He has done things you 've probably fo

rgotten `` The Americanization of Emily '' and `` Victor/Victoria , '' both with

 Julie Andrews and things he 'd rather forget about . ( `` A Man Called Sledge '

' is what he regularly offers up when asked for his biggest stinker . ) And alon

g the way there were films like `` Support Your Local Sheriff , '' `` Grand Prix

 '' ( he loved that because he got to drive race cars ) , `` The Children 's Hou

r '' and `` The Great Escape . '' But it has been television that let him distin

guish himself from the pack , first with his charming gambler-adventurer , Bret 

Maverick , and then later with the witty , beleaguered private detective , Jim R

ockford , of `` The Rockford Files . '' In 1993 , he starred in HBO 's Emmy-winn

ing version of `` Barbarians at the Gate , '' but for most TV fans , Maverick an

d Rockford were the quintessential Garner roles . In many ways , Rockford was a 

1970s reincarnation of Bret Maverick and had a similar skewering effect on TV pr

ivate eyes . `` We kept sticking our tongue in our cheek , and that ruined a lot

 of detective shows , '' says Garner . `` People would get to thinking , ` What 

would Rockford have done ? He wouldn't have gotten a gun and gone chasing him. '

 ' ' Bret Maverick has never been quite out of circulation , living on in fans '

 fond memories and getting resuscitated in a short-lived 1981 series that Garner

 says never made him particularly happy . But now , there 's a big screen rebirt

h , and Garner is passing on the torch to Mel Gibson , who plays the glib gamble

r in Richard Donner 's movie `` Maverick , '' which also stars Jodie Foster and 

Garner . Here , the actor says , he 's content to sit by at the poker table and 

on the stagecoach playing straight lawman Zane Cooper to Gibson 's wisecracking 

Maverick . Garner says his Maverick days are over . `` That was a long time ago 

, '' he says . `` I don't own it . It 's wonderful to see Mel play it . He has s

uch charm and wit . I 've said before I don't know anybody who could play it lik

e Mel could . '' At 66 , Garner is a veteran of bypass surgery who no longer smo

kes ( well , he sneaks one now and then ) and drinks only wine . ( Begin optiona

l trim ) `` I had 'em working nights trying to make enough whiskey for me to dri

nk , '' he recalls of his hard-liquor-drinking days that ended , he says , when 

he was 27 . He allows himself about six ounces of beef a week and this from a gu

y once famous for beef commercials . `` I got letters from people : ` I hope you

 die eating beef . ' All these vegetarians . '' He 's aging about as well as , o

h , say , Warren Beatty ( Garner is older ) , which is to say quite well . Tall 

and broad shouldered , Garner is dressed in a black sweater and black slacks , a

 black leather jacket tossed across the seat . The face is ruddy pink , thicker 

and not as chiseled as in his Rockford days . ( End optional trim ) It was only 

nine years ago that his performance in `` Murphy 's Romance '' as the pharmacist

 who falls slowly in love with Sally Field won him an Oscar nomination for best 

actor . It 's one of his favorite roles and he plays Murphy as an unapologetic e

ccentric , comfortable with his life and his thickening waist , even sexy . `` C

areful , girl , '' he says when this observation is made . He says he has never 

tried to project himself as a sexually alluring figure . `` I just don't see mys

elf like that . '' ( Begin optional trim ) He thinks movies are too violent toda

y and laments the loss of the understated picture. ` ` ` Murphy 's Romance ' was

 a good example , '' he says . `` It has no violence , no sex as we 've come to 

know it in movies . And it was a charming film . ` Driving Miss Daisy ' is anoth

er example . But they don't make many of those . They want to make the ones wher

e they kill everybody . '' ( End optional trim ) Garner is in some ways an old-f

ashioned Hollywood story . He never made it through 10th grade , leaving Norman 

, Okla. , where he 'd been a high school athlete , for Hollywood , where his fat

her had relocated and was working as a carpet layer . He briefly enrolled in Hol

lywood High School , earned some money doing swimsuit modeling and then shipped 

out with the merchant marine . Later , he spent 21 months in the Korean War wher

e he earned two Purple Hearts . When he returned to Hollywood after his stint in

 the Army , he considered himself qualified for nothing . So he went off to see 

an agent friend who had once told him he ought to be in pictures . The agent sig

ned him that day , and Garner has never wanted for work since . He 's married to

 his first and only wife , Lois , whom he met at an Adlai Stevenson rally 37 yea

rs ago . With the exception of a two-year separation more than a decade ago , th

ey 've been together ever since .

 ANNAPOLIS ROYAL , Nova Scotia One of the longest Main Streets in Canada runs al

most 200 miles , from Yarmouth clear to the outskirts of Halifax . It seems to r

oll halfway across the world , from France and Scotland to colonial America . To

oling along its two-lane blacktop , you 'll pass Gargantuan wooden churches buil

t by faithful French settlers , stockaded fortresses almost 400 years old , past

oral valleys stippled with fruit-heavy trees , mile after mile of rugged and roc

ky seacoast , bays packed with fishing boats , and villages that put even the pr

ettiest of postcards to shame . They call it the Evangeline Trail , a route name

d for the tragic heroine of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 's epic poem about the ex

pulsion of the first European settlers of Nova Scotia , the French . The settler

s were driven from their adopted homeland in 1755 , victims of the long struggle

 between France and England for mastery of the New World . Nova Scotia 's French

 settlers scattered throughout British colonies from Massachusetts to Louisiana 

, where an isolated group of French-speaking Americans came to be known as the C

ajuns . Cajun came from l' Acadie , or Acadia , as the French called their stret

ch of Nova Scotia coastline . It was a place of rural peace , a pastoral paradis

e . And as increasing numbers of visitors are discovering , it still is . The hi

storic heart of old Acadia is Annapolis Royal , the cradle of Canada . For Canad

ians , it 's Jamestown , Plymouth Rock and Philadelphia rolled into one . Ironic

ally , the town looks as if it might have been transplanted from New England 's 

rocky soil . In a sense it was . Yankee loyalists fleeing the American Revolutio

n flocked to Nova Scotia , and many settled in the area around the Annapolis Riv

er . More settled around the rim of the Annapolis Basin , a handsome estuary lin

ked to the Bay of Fundy by Digby Gut ( a channel , not a local intestinal diseas

e ) . Anyway , Annapolis Royal has more than its share of historic landmarks . N

earby there 's Port Royal National Historic Park , marked by a faithful replica 

of Canada 's first settlement the stockaded trading post founded by French adven

turers Samuel de Champlain and Sieur de Monts in 1605 . The post-and-beam extrav

aganza , reconstructed by the last of the region 's old-time shipwrights , is a 

wonder of craftsmanship . In town , the Fort Anne National Historic Site belongs

 to a later era . This is the fourth fort built to defend the town , which seesa

wed between the French and the English during 100 years of struggle for control 

of the region . The first fort was built in 1643 , when the French-ruled town wa

s known as Port Royal . When the English finally assumed dominion in 1710 , they