FLOWERS OF ALL SEASONS 183 



enamel or shell or what not are assembled under 

 the hands of workers skilled in the crafts which 

 employ them. 



Everyone knows of course that there are, 

 generally speaking, two kinds of flowering plants 

 — those which live over from year to year, and 

 those which must be raised every year from 

 seed sown in the spring; or perennials and an- 

 nuals, according to garden terminology. A 

 third kind which escapes the attention of the 

 beginner very often is the biennial, a plant 

 which is raised from seed one spring, grows to 

 maturity the first summer, lives through the 

 winter, and blossoms and matures its seed the 

 second summer, dying when fall comes — not of 

 the cold but because its life cycle is over. 



These lap-overs are an exasperating kind of 

 plant to my mind, and if it were not that some 

 of the loveliest of flowers are among them I 

 think I should never admit them to my garden; 

 for each year young plants must be raised and 

 wintered over if next year is to have its quota 

 of blossoms; yet the space in the garden occu- 

 pied by the blossoming plants is not available 

 until after the season is over, of course. So 

 somewhere there must be a nursery for the 

 young stock. Annuals on the contrary, brief 

 though their span, require no coddling, but may 



