118 TLOWERS AND THE FLOWER GARDEN. 



be planted out without being broken, which will greatly 

 facilitate the after growth. 



Tender or greenhouse annuals require shelter and 

 warmth at all times, but some of them will do in a warm 

 sheltered spot out of doors from June until the nights 

 get cold, and will even ripen their seed. 



The same terms of hardy, half-hardy, and tender are 

 applied to all plants ; and in making selection from the 

 excellent and valuable lists of plants and seeds which 

 are sent out annually by Messrs. Carter and Co., of 

 Holborn, and other first-class dealers, it is necessary to 

 bear in mind that the plants, bulbs, seeds, &c , marked 

 "hardy" will do entirely in the open air, that those 

 marked "half-hardy" and "tender" must be raised with 

 the aid of heat, and protected from cold and frost. In 

 the protection given it is often necessary to guard 

 against too much wet, as well as too much cold. This 

 is especially the case with bulbs, and all of the car- 

 nation kind : many which are staunch against the cold 

 of our climate succumb to its damp. 



There are many annuals which, from being especially 

 well adapted to bedding, have been spoken of in the 

 Chapter on bedding plants. As my little book is in- 

 tended to help the many in planting and cultivating their 

 gardens, its arrangement does not aim at science, but 

 rather at helping the amateur in his work, and its 

 chapters are made mainly with reference to this end. 



Mignonette is of such constant utility in giving 

 fragrance to the garden, and in filling up very prettily 

 every corner that wants filling up, that it must come 

 first among annuals. I believe it is not an annual in 

 its own country, but with us it is generally treated as one, 

 and is sown in the open ground in light sandy loam, well 

 drained, and manured with leaf-mould, from the end 

 of April to the beginning of July, keeping the whole 

 garden fragrant until the frost cuts it off. If the seed 

 be allowed to shed, abundance of self-sown plants will 

 come up the following spring, and these should always 

 be carefully spared, as they will be finer, and flower 

 earlier than those from seed regularly sown. The soil 



