420 THE GARDENER. [Sept. 



many of the favourable districts, that they may be made available in 

 spring llower-gardening ; and even in the least mild parts, if a cold 

 frame may be devoted to them during winter, they will serve, along with 

 other hardy plants, to make beds and borders gay long before bedding- 

 plants can be turned out into summer quarters. While the writer 

 thinks it desirable that hardy annuals generally should receive a greater 

 amount of attention, he has personally more favour for the " Califor- 

 nians " than for those other hardy annuals which, hailing from many 

 countries superior in respect of climate to our own, can only be cultivated 

 during summer with us ; and it is to this group that the remainder 

 of the present paper will be devoted. The different species comprised 

 in the group are not all natives of California, but a large proportion of 

 them are so. All submit to the same general treatment, and the term 

 Californian Annuals is therefore sufficiently applicable and convenient 

 in a general sense. The beauty and profusion of the flowers of many 

 of them are remarkable when they are well cultivated and attended to. 

 The names of a few of the most popular among them, such as Limnan- 

 thes, Nemophila, Clarkia, Godetia, Eutoca, and Whitlavia, need only 

 be mentioned in proof of their first-rate ornamental qualities. These 

 contain some of the most choice and brilliant of hardy annuals, but they 

 by no means monopolise the beauty of either the group to which they 

 belong, or the whole class of hardy annuals. The Californians succeed 

 best when sown in autumn in most parts of the country. I have often 

 had splendid plants from self-sown stock of Limnanthes, Nemophila, 

 CoUinsia, and others in bloom in April in Scotland ; and with careful 

 attention to the removal of decaying flowers along with the seed-vessels 

 as they formed, they have lasted in ornamental condition till July and 

 August, when late spring-sown plants came in to take their place, and 

 keep up the display to the close of the year. Many of them freely sow 

 themselves, especially in light warm soils and early districts. Advan- 

 tage may be taken of this in transplanting as many seedlings as may 

 be required to a nursery-bed, in some sheltered corner, where they must 

 be kept till the rigour of winter is spent. In less favourable districts, 

 however, throughout the greater part of Scotland, and many parts of 

 England also, although autumn-sown plants may scatter their seeds, 

 and give rise to a number of plants, they are usually either too far ad- 

 vanced, or too late to winter well ; in the one case being too gross, and 

 in the other too small, to withstand the eff'ects of long-continued frost 

 and damp. It is better, perhaps, in every case, to sow regularly, so as 

 to insure a prospect of ample stock to transplant the following spring. 

 The beginning of September is early enough to make the sowing ; and 

 the poorest piece of ground that can be chosen, if well sheltered and 

 warm in aspect, is the best for the autumn seed-bed. If the ground is 



