THE FLORAL WORLD 



AND 



GARDEN GUIDE. 



MARCH, 186 8. 



EOUGH AND EEADY aAEDENINa.— NO. II. 



A CHEAP DISPLAY OF A^^-NUALS. 



MMENSE quantities of the seeds of annuals are sold 

 every season, and it follows that thej are largely grown. 

 Yet it is but seldom we see them turned to the best 

 account, and by a very great many gardeners who 

 ought to know better they are openly despised. They 

 have their faults, no doubt, but they also have their virtues. If 

 some of the showiest soon pass away after acquiring their highest 

 perfection, it is but small labour and a brief space of time they 

 demand to bring them to that perfection. Nor are they all so easy 

 to manage that the cultivator who loves to grapple with difficulties 

 can afford to contemn them on that score. I will venture to say 

 that there are many annuals in cultivation that are scarcely ever 

 well grown, and that to do them well would demand more s^kill 

 than has ever been bestowed upon them. These few remarks are 

 made to prepare the way for the assertion that annuals are worth 

 attention everywhere, and that the grandest promenade garden 

 might be kept splendidly furnished with such plants alone. There- 

 fore the rough and ready gardener need not be ashamed to patronize 

 them, for it will be his own fault alone, if, so doing, he finds his 

 garden full of weeds. 



To do justice to annuals the soil should be light and rich. It is 

 true that amongst the many plants to which the common and verj 

 general designation of " annual " may he applied, the most opposite 

 characters are to be found, yet by far the greatest number of those 

 most worthy of attention will be found to make the best display 

 when grown in open sunny borders, that have been prepared for 

 them by deep digging, and the incorporation of a liberal amount of 

 well-rotted manure. 



We will suppose that the reader has a few borders furnished 

 with such things as were recommended in No. I. of this series. 

 There will, no doubt, be room for many clumps of annuals in the 

 border, and if they are well selected, a delightl'ul di.splay of colours 



VOL. III. — NO. III. o 



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