VIOLETS AND WALLFLOWERS 183 



Violets root readily from running stems or from divided roots, 

 all through the growing season, but establishment is best undertaken 

 in the spring or early in the autumn. Such plants make large, bloom- 

 ing clumps in the open air in California, just as they do under the semi- 

 protected frames at the East. If the plants are allowed to take a 

 summer rest all the litter should be raked off and the surface between 

 the rows loosened to get the full benefits of the early rains and 

 insure the wealth of holiday blooming. As the picking thereof must 

 continue during the rains the writer has found it most convenient to grow 

 the plants as a narrow border along hard walks, to avoid stepping on 

 rain-softened ground. The very large, single, deep blue and long- 

 stemmed violets are most popular. The variety called "California," 

 which is really a re-named Frenchman, is largely grown, but others 

 of similar characters but with a wider-flaring flower, like the Princess 

 of Wales, are probably superior. Of the doubles the Marie Louise, 

 medium purplish, with unique red fleck in the center, has long been 

 a favorite, for foliage, flower and stem. The old Neapolitan, very 

 light lavender and very floriferous, has been discarded largely for 

 scant foliage and short stems. The writer highly esteems Lady 

 Hume-Campbell, as it has Marie Louise character of foliage and stem 

 and bloom of lighter hue, though darker than the Neapolitan. For 

 double-white the Swanley still probably remains the best, but all 

 whites are neglected. 



Wallflowers. These flowers of our grandmothers are still widely 

 esteemed and in California are very satisfactory. Their unique colors 

 are not fully assumed by any other plant and their rich, clean foliage 

 is always delightful to gaze upon. But one cannot get the fullest joy 

 from wallflowers which are neglected patent as they are under it. 

 Their low shrub-like growth only does its best by pruning system- 

 atically to remove spent-shoots, when there is no frost to remove it. 

 and to encourage new growth, and they should not be allowed to 

 famish for water in trying to make it. A little piece of brick or 

 stone wall, and its wallflowers before it, will probably always remain 

 a joy in an amateur's garden and in California the joy is not of a 

 fleeting summer but of the year in places where frosts are light. The 

 plants come readily from sowing in the open after frost or may be 

 box-grown for transplanting blooms coming the first year and ever 

 afterward. 



Zinnias. Zinnias are the delight of the beginner from childhood 

 upward, so easy, rapid and showy they are. They are also useful to 

 more experienced gardeners, for they have such a wide range of colors 

 so freely displayed. They are, however, quite sensitive to frost, and 

 to get the best of their annual character the plants should be started 

 early under cover and transplanted as soon as safe in the particular 

 place chosen for them. 



