168 CALIFORNIA GARDEN FLOWERS 



Candytuft. Candytuft is one of the easiest of plants to grow 

 and among the quickest to break into bloom and to furnish a succes- 

 sion by sowing at different dates. The different varieties differ widely 

 in stature and in colors, and the beginner will find them excellent 

 teachers of many elements of garden wisdom and they will encourage 

 him to keep at it. 



Centaurea. Although the "Corn flowers" enjoy California gardens 

 immensely, it is fortunate that, so far as we have observed, they are 

 not disposed to become such a combined field beauty and pest as 

 they do in Europe. The rich blue varieties are most popular. Centaurea 

 also includes the "Sweet Sultans," of which there are several good 

 varieties, with a wide range of colors, most of them bearing rich 

 flowers on tall, stiff stems; excellent for decorative purposes. To get 

 a long blooming season the plants should be started during the winter 

 under protection and planted out early. 



Chrysanthemum. These are not the plants to which Chapter XVI 

 is devoted, though botanical brothers. These are more herbaceous 

 in growth and of shorter life being classed as annuals. These plants, 

 of which varieties are being developed which are likely to rival the 

 assortment of the perennial chrysanthemum, are rapidly growing in 

 favor and are serving striking purposes in enriching midsummer and 

 autumn bloom. The plants are grown under cover and much as 

 asters are and are easy to handle in every way. 



Cineraria. The open-air glory of this plant during the winter 

 growth and bloom, followed by spring and early-summer abundance 

 thereof, is each year attracting more attention in California. It is 

 still, of course, a hot house plant, starting in August for winter 

 bloom, but it is greater through self-sown plants appearing in masses 

 after the autumn rains begin, in places where older plants have 

 bloomed the previous summer. In fact, the cineraria presents the 

 invertion of horticultural practice in California more strikingly, per- 

 haps, than any other plant, for instead of taking house-grown ciner- 

 arias to the open ground for blooming, open-air volunteering, or 

 selfsown, plants are sometimes potted up for house growth and the 

 writer was quite flattered once by a request from a local florist that 

 he be allowed to take up from his garden a chunk of earth which 

 was fairly green with tiny cineraria seedlings just right for pricking 

 out in thumb-pots. The seed is exceedingly small and nature had 

 done surface-sowing which brought myriads of seedlings when the 

 heat and moisture of October in the coast region were just right for 

 germination. But if one has not a supply of such seedlings or if he 

 desires to buy selected seed, let him follow the suggestions for the 

 finest seedlings in Chapter VII. The cineraria in the open air in 

 California enjoys shade even in the coast .district. Where soil and 



