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GARDEI^ERS' CHRONICLE 



Our Garden of Annual Flowers 



FLORUM AMATOR 



WE are going to tell you what we grew in our 1920 

 garden of annual flowers. If you have not been 

 in the habit of cultivating annual flowers, you 

 should do so, if possible this season. From the tenth of 

 May until the tenth of June is the most favorable time 

 for planting the smaller seeds in the open garden. A 

 much larger percentage of the smaller seed will germi- 

 nate, if planted in the garden during this period, than if 

 planted in April. When a hotbed or conservatory is 

 available the seeds of all kinds of Howers which endure 

 transplanting — a few will not — may be sown in seed 

 pans or flats in April and in mid-May transplanted into 

 the garden beds. If we have not such facilities, we need 

 not be at all discouraged, but sow our seeds in the 

 garden beds where tliey are to grow, and if we follow 

 out this method with care and ordinaiy intelligence we 

 will obtain satisfactory results with less work — though 

 we will need more seeds of each kind — than by sowing 

 the seeds under glass and transplanting. 



We hardly need tell you that we planted sweet peas, 

 the shape and colors, and fragrance of whose beautiful 

 flowers are all so pleasing, and that we planted these as 

 early as we could work the ground. For our sweet peas 

 we chose a place away from our beds of annuals, where 

 the soil was inclined to be moist but not wet and soggy, 

 as the drainage was good, in the Autumn of 1919, and 

 in that season made preparation for sowing our sweet 

 peas the next Spring in the following manner : A trench 

 extending north and south was dug about two feet deep 

 and 100 feet long — we live on a farm where 100 feet 

 does not count for much. In the bottom of this trench 

 we placed vegetable refuse, that is the cleanings of the 

 vegetable and flower gardens for the previous season, in 

 such quantities that when it was stamped down hard, 

 the trench was one-half or more full ; above this was 

 placed stable manure in such volume that after the 

 manure was packed firmly the trench was three-fourths 

 or more full. In the digging of the trench the richer 

 top soil was thrown out on one side and the rest of the 

 soil to the other side of the trench. Enough of the 

 richer top soil was placed above the manure to make the 

 trench rounding full. The rest of the soil was thrown 

 over the adjacent surface of the garden. Some years 

 we do not prepare our sweet pea trench until early in the 

 Spring of the planting season, instead of in the previous 

 Autumn, but we prefer Autumn preparation. In early 

 Spring we found ihe refuse and manure in otir Autumn 

 prepared trench had settled until the trench was no longer 

 full, and after raking into the soil of the trench a very 

 generous spread of pure "rose bone" flour, we put back 

 enough more of the top soil, which we had saved, to 

 make the trench rounding full. Next the garden line 

 was set and a drill made about two inches deep. In this 

 the seeds of the choicest Spencer type in about ten sep- 

 arate colors were sown quite thickly so as to be sure of 

 a good stand of plants from the first sow'ing. The seeds 

 before they were covered were pressed in firmly with the 

 blade of a "draw" hoe, then covered with about two 

 mches of soil and after this soil was made firm with the 

 hoe, a little more soil was thrown over the seeds and 

 left loose. When the plants were about two inches high 

 a generous spread of wood ashes was applied each side 

 of the row of plants and raked in. The plants were 

 thinned to stand about four inches apart. Soon after we 

 set firmlv white birch brush about six feet high rather 



close together on the west side of the row a few inches 

 away from the plants and brush about eighteen inches 

 high on the east side slanting a little toward the plants 

 so as to force the vines to chmb the higher brush. After 

 the vines w-ere well up the brush, we dug a V-shaped 

 trench about a foot away from plants on each side of the 

 row. and threw the soil from there up towards but not 

 so close as to reach the row of plants. This operation 

 made three V-shaped trenches, one in which the row of 

 plants stood and one each side of the row. Each of these 

 trenches, whenever the rain fell, caught the water and 

 carried it down to the roots of the plants. The result 

 of this method of culture was an abundance of flowers 

 during the usual season of sweet peas. 



C)ur cosmos also was planted away from our bed of 

 smaller annuals. We planted seeds of Lady Lenox pink 

 and also white and a crimson variety called conchita in 

 a flat (shallow box) in early April and set the flat in a hot 

 bed. W'hen the plants had their character leaves, we set 

 the flat outside in a sunny protected place to make the 

 plants grow stocky and hardy. In early May we set out 

 a row of fifty plants,- eighteen inches apart, and when a 

 foot high we set a strong cedar bean pole to each plant 

 and tied the plant to the pole with soft string. As the 

 plants grew taller, we tied them twice more. Beginnmg 

 about the time of early frost and extending well into 

 cold weather the Lady Lenox both pink and white, gave 

 thousands of blooms ; the crimson variety, conchita, began 

 blooming about three weeks earlier than the Lady Lenox, 

 but was not quite so free a bloomer, nor were the flowers 

 as large. 



(Jur bed of the smaller annuals was about 75 feet long 

 and four feet wide with a path about two feet wide on 

 each side . Here we sowed the flower seeds of several 

 kinds in late May and early June in shallow drills about 

 eight inches apart. 



At this distance we were able to cultivate between the 

 rows of plants with a narrow bladed hoe and rake. After 

 the plants were a few^ inches high we thinned them to 

 stand from three to six inches apart according to their 

 kind. 



(Jf Calendula, said to be the marigold of Shakespeare, 

 also called Pot Marigold and Broth Marigold, whose 

 flowers Charles Lamb speaks of in no very affectionate 

 wav in his Essays to Elia, as floating around in his stew, 

 we' planted chiefly the varieties Orange King, Prince of 

 Orange, Meteor, Nankeen, and Sulphur Crown, and a 

 packet of mixed seed. We never can resist after choos- 

 ing our favorite varieties of each kind of flower, buying 

 a "packet of "mixed seeds" or in seedsmen's parlance 

 "finest mixed"' just to see what we will get. We began 

 cutting flowers from our Calendula in August and con- 

 tinued to cut, for Calendula is a hardy annual, clear into 

 November. 



Next to our Calendulas we planted .\frican marigolds, 

 mostly the deep yellows. Prince of Orange, Pride of the 

 Garden, and Eldorado, but some lemon-yellow too. Lemon 

 Queen, and Delight of the Garden. We like the stimulat- 

 ing fragrance of the marigold blooms. They are not a 

 graceful flower, but their form is unique, the color of the 

 deep yellow flowers rich, and they withstand the early 

 frosts well. 



There would to us, be something lacking in our garden 

 of annuals without the pretty little French marigolds, 

 both the single and the double, the yellow, the brown and 



