CONCERNING HARDY PLANTS 41 



sweet, moist odour rises when you open the seed papers 

 with fingers almost trembling with eagerness, it seems 

 second nature to be lavish. If a few seeds will produce 

 a few plants, why not the more the merrier? If they 

 come up too thick, they can be thinned out, you argue, 

 and thick sowing is being on the safe side. But is it? 

 Quite the contrary. When the seedlings appear, you 

 delay, waiting for them to gain a good start before jar- 

 ring their roots by thinning. All of a sudden they 

 make such strides that when you begin, you are appalled 

 by the task, and after a while cease pulling the individ- 

 ual plants, but recklessly attack whole "chunks" at 

 once, or else give up in a despair that results in a row 

 of anaemic, drawn-out starvelings that are certainly not 

 to be called a success. After having tried and duly 

 weighed the labour connected with both methods, I 

 find it best to sow thinly and to rely on filling gaps 

 by taking a plant here and there from a crowded spot. 

 For this reason, as well as that of uniformity also, it is 

 always better to sow seeds of hardy or annual flowers 

 in a seed bed, and then remove, when half a dozen leaves 

 appear, to the permanent position in the ornamental 

 part of the garden. 



With annuals, of course, there are some exceptions to 

 this rule, in the case of sweet peas, nasturtiums, 



