PETUNIAS, PINKS AND POPPIES 177 



and mottled with reds and white. The bloom is beautiful and service- 

 able for house decoration and particularly brightens the garden 

 between the chrysanthemums and the early bulbs, though available 

 far beyond that period. 



Petunia. Petunias are very serviceable in California for their 

 endurance of high heat and drouth, and are easy to grow all through 

 the frostless season and to get continuous bloom during that period. 

 The seed is very fine and needs surface sowing and to get the full 

 benefit of the plant the seedlings should be winter-grown under cover 

 for putting out after frost. California propagators have accomplished 

 wonders in doubling the flower and in bringing its circumference and 

 their work is better known at the East, where the petunia is a very 

 popular house plant than in this state, where it is grown in the open. 



Phlox. Perennial phloxes, making stems about three feet high 

 with full panicles of bloom of various colors, are easily grown and 

 serve a good purpose in masses. The annual phlox (Drummondii) 

 is very bright in colors, low and carpet-like in stature and coloring. 

 It is very beautiful during the frost free period, and is available in 

 many varieties. 



Pinks. These are well known low-growing perennials with grass- 

 like foliage, botanically related to the carnation, but much less popu- 

 lar, though having the same delicious odor. They are easily grown, 

 making no particular soil requirement and some of them exceedingly 

 hardy under neglect. They are propagated either by seed, clump, 

 division or cuttings. The old Scotch or border pink is most frequently 

 seen and it has a very long blooming season in this state. 



Poppies. Of course our greatest poppy is Eschscholtzia Californca, 

 our State Flower, as noted on page 10. This species has such capacity 

 for variation that Dr. Jepson says nearly one hundred new species 

 have been proposed for creation out of it, but this should not lead 

 the amateur to conclude that all our Eschscholtzias are of one vari- 

 able species, for two others are named and described.* But for us 

 the "Golden Poppy," with its string of pretty Spanish names, is 

 nearly the whole thing. It is interesting, historically, that foreigners 

 have done much for our California poppies which might perhaps 

 never have been done at home. We have the flower in such glorious 

 amount that we thought little of developing varieties, but this was 

 first done abroad, although Mr. Burbank followed with creations 

 more unique than the foreigners achieved. More than twenty years 

 ago, the late Mr. Charles Perry, an amateur rose grower at Birming- 

 ham, England, followed the practice of growing eschscholtzias among 

 his standard roses, and, as he always said, to his entire satisfaction. 

 The record before us says: "Mr. Perry always held no harm was 

 done to his plants or the bloom they carried; indeed, he considered 



