*54 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



to flower, unless sown very early in pots in 

 the house or greenhouse. 



The seedlings should be planted out from 

 the frame as soon as they are large enough 

 to handle. Choose dull showery weather if 

 possible for this operation. Water and 

 shade the plants as required for a few days. 

 For shading, a few pieces of shingle or slats 

 of wood placed so as to break the rays of 

 the sun for an hour or two at mid-day, is 

 better than shading the plants too closely 

 with a close covering. When once well 

 established the plants will require very little 

 attention beyond watering in very dry 

 weather. Even when sown in the open 

 ground, young seedling annuals will benefit 

 by being partially shaded for a few hours 

 during the hottest part of the day. The 

 most critical period with seedlings is just 

 when the seeds are germinating. Allowing 

 the seed to become dry, and a few hours' 

 exposure to the hot sun at this time will 

 prove fatal to most young seedling 

 plants. Water should be given early in the 

 morning before the sun is very powerful. 



Among biennials there are only a few 

 species really adapted for successful culture 

 in our gardens; hollyhocks and the various 

 double and single types of the campanula 

 media being about the most remunerative 

 and attractive of this class of plants. Even 

 these are difficult to bring through the win- 

 ter in many localities, unless well protected 

 during very severe weather, and early in the 

 spring when the snow has melted, leaving 

 the plants bare and exposed to severe frosts 

 at night, and the blistering sun in the day 

 time. The campanula media will however 

 come through the winter successfully some 

 seasons without any protection whatever. 

 The spike of bloom as represented in the 

 March number of journal was taken from a 

 plant that had not had any artificial pro- 

 tection during the preceding winter. The 

 position it was growing in was however 

 fairly well sheltered from the west by a 



cedar hedge. Even if only a few spikes of 

 the uniquely shaped flowers of this campan- 

 ula are obtained, they well repay any extra 

 care and attention bestowed on their culture. 



The antirrhinum or snap-dragons are gen- 

 erally classed and treated as biennials. It 

 is impossible however to winter these over 

 in our gardens without the aid of a sash or 

 frame, even this latter method is risky. 

 They succeed splendidly, however, treated as 

 annuals, as seed sown in March or even in 

 April will produce plants that will flower as 

 early as July or August, and continue flower- 

 ing until early winter. Some of the newer 

 types of antirrhinums, more especially the 

 dwarf varieties, are very pretty and useful, 

 not only to furnish a supply of cut flowers, 

 but their dwarf and compact style of growth 

 and their profuse and continuous habit of 

 flowering, recommend them highly as decor- 

 ative plants for the flower-garden or mixed 

 border. 



Seeds of the hollyhock and the campanula 

 media can be sown either in doors in pots or 

 boxes early in the spring or in the frame, or 

 open border later on. Early sown plants of 

 these should be planted out in May or June 

 in the open border where the plants are to 

 flower. Seed sown in July in the open bor- 

 der, and the plants thinned out if necessary, 

 and transplanted early in September, will 

 often come through the winter better than 

 plants raised earlier from seed sown 

 earlier. 



As auxiliaries and extras in the flower 

 garden or mixed border, both for decorative 

 purposes and cut flowers, annuals and bien- 

 nials cannot well be dispensed with. Their 

 many and varied forms and types, as well 

 as the beautiful shades and tints of their 

 flowers, all of which may develop some new 

 and unexpected feature, make them doubly 

 attractive to the amateur flower-lover. The 

 fact that by successive sowings many var- 

 ieties can be had in flower in the hot months 

 of summer and in earlv autumn, when flow- 



