CHAP. XIII VILLA GARDENING / / 



cardinalis, Virginiau Stock, Tropjeolum canariense (Canary Creeper). 

 To this list should be added a few Everlastings, including Heli- 

 chrysums, various. Xeranthemums, white and purple, Rodanthe 

 macidata, Helipterum corymbiflorum, Ammobium alatum grandi- 

 fiorum, and the following ornamental Grasses, which are so desir- 

 able for mixing with cut flowers : — Agrostis nebulosa, Anthoxanthum 

 gracile, Briza gracilis, B. maxima, Bromus brizoeformis, Eragrostis 

 elegans, Hordeum jubatum, Lagurus ovata, Paspalum elegaus, 

 Pennisetum longistylum, Stipa elegantissima. 



The germination of seeds is mainly a question of preparation 

 of the seed bed. When seeds fail to grow it is generally the 

 fault of the sower. There are instances where the seeds have 

 lost their vital principle before the seeds reach the sower, and of 

 course no amount of care wiU cause a dead seed to germinate. In 

 the case of a new plant much sought after, a good deal of use- 

 less stuff is palmed off" as a sound article ; but as a ride it does 

 not pay a seedsman to send out bad seeds. Therefore, if seeds 

 fail, except it may be in the case of some novelty in great demand, 

 the cause is usually to be found in the manipidation of the sower. 

 Some flower seeds are very small, and if these are scattered over a 

 rough steely surface and scratched over w^ith a rake, they perish 

 without a chance of germinating. But if the siu-face had been 

 sprinkled over with a thin covering of light sandy compost to form 

 a bed for the seeds to lie on, and a further light sprinkling after- 

 wards as a covering, and the back of the spade pressed on them 

 gently to make the surface a little firm — if the seeds have any 

 vitality in them they certainly will grow. Again, some people 

 are over-anxious about earliness ; they forget the value of the 

 old proverb, "The more haste the less speed," and they sow 

 too early, and the little plants jjerish almost before life has com- 

 menced with them. The first week in April is quite early enough 

 to sow flower seeds in the open border. 



CHAPTER XIII 



"Winter Bedding. — Any kind of furniture is better than 

 barrenness ; so the beds, however meagrely planted in winter, look 

 better for having some kind of furniture in them. I have known 

 an air of homeliness and satisfaction imparted to a garden in a 

 few hours for a temporary purpose by sticking branches of ever- 

 greens over the beds to make-believe there were little plants grow- 

 ing there. Where a stock of little shrubs of various kinds can be 

 kept in reserve for filling only a few of the beds in winter, a 



