THE GARDEN WEEK BY WEEK 



April requires thinning and also considerable shortening, in 

 ^"^5 view of the thicket of side twigs. The Penzance Briers 

 produce rods, which should be thinned out as they get 

 old and hard. Flowers will be produced from the 

 younger canes, which may spring from the root stock, or 

 as laterals from the old rods. 



Hardy Annuals. — Early April is generally the best 

 time of the year for sowing hardy annuals out of doors, 

 because the soil has become well warmed by the spring 

 sun, and is in a condition to crumble freely under the 

 rake. I gave a list of plants in my first chapter, and I 

 need do no more now than advise the reader to give 

 special attention to such particularly valuable kinds as 

 Sweet Peas, Mignonette, Godetias, Clarkias, Poppies, 

 Rose Mallow (Lavatera), Miss Jekyll's Love-in-a-Mist, 

 double annual Chrysanthemums, and Nasturtiums. In 

 mentioning the names of these and other kinds, I stated 

 the distance that they should go apart. Let the amateur 

 beware of crowding. Clumps look better than rows, 

 both in beds and borders. It is not a bad plan to drop 

 three or four seeds in groups about a foot apart, and 

 thin the resulting plants down to one. The advantages 

 of this plan over sowing a broad patch is that less seed 

 is used and less trouble involved in thinning. Remember 

 that while annuals make beautiful and cheap beds when 

 they are well grown, they are also well worthy of being 

 put into herbaceous borders, where the later-blooming 

 kinds can be utilised to succeed the early-flowering 

 perennials. (See remarks in Chapter III.) 



Sweet Peas. — The Sweet Pea is the queen of hardy 

 annuals, and is well worthy of special culture. A row of 

 mixed varieties looks charming, but those who like to 

 grow special varieties under name may make up continu- 

 ous rows by sowing or planting short lengths (perhaps 

 174 



