100 beeck's new book of flowers. 



rennials or biennials. Among them are the Verbena, 

 Eschscholtzia, Commeliiia, Mirabihs, and many others. 

 This class of plants may be kept through the winter in 

 green-houses or in any light cellar. Annuals are most ap- 

 propriate for those who are changing their abode from 

 year to year, as from these alone a fine display may be 

 kept up the whole season, with the exception of the vernal 

 months, and this deficiency may be supplied by having a 

 choice collection of perennials, grown in pots, which can 

 be plunged in the ground, and thus removed at any time 

 when it is necessary to change the residence. 



No collection of plants can be complete without an 

 abundance of annuals, as they can be disposed of in such 

 a way as to succeed the perennials, and keep up a con- 

 tinuous bloom in all parts of the garden through the 

 season. 



Annuals may be divided as follows : — hardy, half-hardy, 

 and tender. 



Hardy annuals are such as may be sworn in autumn or 

 very early in the spring, as all the Larkspurs, Clarkia, 

 Asters, Candytufts, etc. Half-hardy are those which will 

 not bear a hard frost, and therefore not proper to plant in 

 the open ground before the middle or last of May, as the 

 Balsam, Cocks-comb, Marigold, etc. Tender annuals can 

 hardly be brought to perfection without starting them in 

 artificial heat, in a hot-bed or otherwise, and are very sen- 

 sitive to cold, as the Cypress- Vine, Thunbergia, Ice-Plant, 

 Sensitive-Plant, etc. Many of these, in a very Avarm season, 

 will succeed tolerably well if planted about the 1st of June ; 

 but to have them in perfection they should be raised in a 

 hot-bed, in pots, and turned out into the ground about the- 

 middle of June. 



Before sowing annuals, the soil in which they are to be 

 grown should be made light and rich, and very finely pul- 

 verized, as many of the seeds are vei*y small, and require 



