THE RIGHT USE OF ANNUALS 



ANNUALS are always apt to be a difficulty in 

 the garden, especially for those who attempt 

 to solve the real problems of gardening. Many of 

 them, such as Nemophila, Shirley Poppies, and Love- 

 in-a-Mist, are so beautiful that one cannot do with- 

 out them; yet they flower but a short time, occupy 

 a good deal of space, and leave an unsightly blank 

 when they cease to flower. They are not like some 

 perennial plants, such as the Pinks, which are beau- 

 tiful even after their short flowering season is over. 

 They have their little period of beauty, and then they 

 give themselves up to business, the business of seed- 

 ing. They seem to know that their lives must be 

 short, and, therefore, to be utterly taken up with 

 the task of the moment. When the time comes for 

 them to think of posterity, they think of nothing else. 

 They are like poor young mothers who grow haggard 

 quickly in the nursery; and in the garden one has 

 no room for haggard things. One does not wish to 

 be reminded of autumn and the shadow of death in 

 full summer, and therefore one is inclined to clear 

 annuals away as soon as they go out of flower. But 

 if a great bed of Poppies is rooted up in August, what 

 is to take their place? Blank spaces at that time of 

 year are a reproach to the gardener, a proof that he 



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