CHAPTER XIX. 

 FLOWERS FOR HOT, DRY REGIONS. 



That the reader may have some relief from the continual reitera- 

 tions of the culture exhortations which the writer has found befitting 

 the greater areas of the California coast and valley regions, and in the 

 hope of helping those who live where extremes of heat, cold and 

 drouth are more marked, this chapter will be constructed chiefly of 

 conclusions reached by Professor J. J. Thornber, while he was serving 

 as botanist of the Arizona Experiment Station. There are very large 

 districts of California which lie south-eastward of the Sierra Nevada 

 and eastward and northward of the high mountains in Southern Cali- 

 fornia, which are characterized by conditions unaffected by ocean in- 

 fluences and therefore more closely resembling those prevailing at the 

 same latitude in the interior of the continent. In such districts Arizona 

 experience is more pertinent than that of the coast region of Cali- 

 fornia. It may be noticed, however, by the close reader that there is 

 a resemblance in kind between the recommendations drawn from 

 Professor Thornber and those previously given, but there is con- 

 siderable difference in degree. 



Growing the Right Plant at the Right Time. A lack of apprecia- 

 tion of the differences between the winter, spring, and summer grow- 

 ing seasons is responsible for the failure of many plants, particularly 

 flowers, to make any growth whatever when planted in the interior 

 regions. Too often we are sowing sweet peas and poppy seeds when 

 we should be planting petunias and zinnias. Some endeavor to grow 

 the same varieties of flowers in the southwest in the summer season 

 that they did in the states farther north and east, and in this they 

 almost invariably fail. The experienced southwestern truck gardener, 

 with his acre of rich valley soil, knows well not to waste time trying 

 to grow such vegetables as onions, peas, and spinach during the 

 extreme summer heat, though these conditions are perfect for some 

 kinds of beans, for squashes and sweet potatoes. Species growing 

 remarkably well during the winter and spring months are seldom 

 able to make any headway in the summer season. In fact, such plants 

 usually die at the beginning of the hot, dry fore-summer, or at least 

 cease growth and production of flowers and seeds, even with moderate 

 irrigation. Fruitless attempts are often made, on the open plains or 

 valleys, to grow sweet peas, ten-weeks, stock, candytuft, crimson flax, 

 or even California poppies in the summer. And the reverse is like- 

 wise true, for such varieties as flourish during the hot weather, seldom 

 make any growth worthy of note in the winter season, and usually 



