CHAPTER XXXIV 



SECOND WEEK IN SEPTEMBER 



OUMMER is on the wane, and the gardener who is 

 ^ nothing if not prescient must begin to prepare for 

 the next season's display, for Nature cannot be hurried, 

 ind must have ample time to carry out her plans. Seeds of 

 "he hardiest annuals (such as Shirley poppy, mignonette, 

 rornflower, &c.) may now be sown to stand the winter in 

 sheltered positions, with sweet peas, of which we can never 

 lave too many, for their beauty and fragrance are universally 

 icknowledged. 



Another set of seeds which may now be sown with advan- 

 tage are those of the half-hardy climbers, which are now so 

 beautiful in the garden. Most of these are best treated as 

 biennials, for they take many months to grow before they 

 blossom ; if sown in the spring they seldom do much the 

 same season, and are too often killed by the cold (unless 

 planted in a greenhouse) before they come to their full 

 beauty. These are sub-tropical plants, in fact, but may yet be 

 grown in the open air during the summer, when their grace- 

 ful blossoms are conspicuous on the ironwork of a balcony 

 or at the sides of a window-box ; they may also be used to 

 cover wire-netting in the garden, as well as in the green- 

 house. Lophospermum scandens, a native of Mexico, with 

 trumpet-shaped flowers about 2j inches long in soft pink, 

 and vine-shaped leaves, is one of these a very beautiful 

 climber, which makes rapid growth during its second season 

 if sown at the present time. The seeds (which are contained 

 in extraordinary round pods, each forming a caricature of a 

 Chinaman's head) must be sown in a shallow, well-drained 



321 



