94 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



each year is sufficient to enable one to. quite successfully secure^ 

 by their use, temporary effects which it would take many years 

 to obtain from shrubs. While no one should feel content with 

 this form of emergency planting yet new places and temporary 

 locations can be greatly softened and beautified by the judicious 

 use of these annual plants. 



THE USE OE EEOWERS ABOUT THE DWEEEING. 



Annual plants which have a suitable habit of growth and ade- 

 quate foliage may be made to do duty about the dwelling and 

 upon the grounds in the place of the more appropriate shrubs^ 

 and perennials. The one great drawback to which such annual 

 plantations is subjected is the yearly destruction by the first hard 

 frost of the season. This scene is particularly unpleasant. It 

 is not at all agreeable to observe the blighted forms of the plants 

 which for a season have by their charm, appropriateness and 

 beauty become one's daily companions. The scene of death and 

 desolation which follows the frost is not pleasant to contemplate, 

 but aside from this one feature, which it is hoped will not 

 impress others as it does the writer, the annual plants such as 

 cosmos, castor bean, sunflower, aster, zinnia, and flowering sage 

 may all be made to serve as substitutes for shrubbery plantations- 

 until the shrubs themselves have grown to sufficient size to com- 

 mand the situation. 



Tall growing, broad leaved plants like the castor bean can be 

 used with advantage as screens for drive ways or walks, by 

 placing a mass of the plants in the bay of the walk or drive. 

 Tall growing plants of this description when massed against 

 buildings, fences, or other obtrusive objects serve as attractive 

 and efficient temporary screens. Low growing plants are more 

 effective when massed in borders along the boundary of the 

 place with taller growing annuals or shrubs as a background 

 than when used in beds at the front or side of the dwelling. In 

 fact the formal bed either in the shape of an oval, circle, or star 

 in the center of a greensward is generally more obtrusive than 

 pleasing. The next best place for the annuals after the border 

 is in masses about the foundations of the building. And if 

 vines of a temporary nature are desired some of the rapid grow- 

 ing sorts such as Cobea scandens, the Moonflower, Morning- 



