CHAPTER XXXII 



ANNUALS 



No garden is complete without its quota of annuals. The so- 

 called perennial garden, to be really successful, must be supplemented 

 each year with a quantity of annuals, especially if the garden is to be 

 studied in close detail. If only the larger mass effects of flowers and 

 foliage are required, a perennial planting properly selected is sufficient 

 in itself. 



The opinion prevails among those who have devoted but little study 

 to this subject that a complete flower garden can be developed during 

 the first one or two years after planting through the use of properly 

 selected types of perennials only. Such a garden may be developed 

 after the first one or two years, under the care of an expert gardener. 

 It is almost impossible to develop such a garden in the early stages, 

 because perennials, on account of the nature of the plants, continue 

 each year to increase their mass and so require more space for their 

 normal development. Therefore, when perennials are first planted, 

 sufficient space should be allowed between plants to permit of a normal 

 development for at least three or four years, at the end of which period 

 the clumps of plants, except the peony, should be "divided." (See 

 "Maintenance of Perennials.") If the first planting is not over- 

 crowded there will be during the first year, and often during the second 

 year, bare spots in the garden which should be filled with annuals. 

 Perennials during the first year after transplanting rarely become es- 

 tablished sufficiently to produce normal flower effects, and this is one 

 reason for the use of annuals to develop a successful garden. 



Annuals are plants which are grown from seed each year and whose 

 roots die each winter. The roots of perennials continue to live in a 

 dormant condition and develop new growth again at the top with the 

 coming of the next spring. 



The first principle in the successful development of any flower gar- 

 den is to determine the use for which the flower garden is developed. A 

 garden designed, either of annuals or of perennials, to show a succession 



237 



