362 



How to Make a Flower Garden 



Pansy. For early spring flowering sow in 

 the autumn, and when the plants have three 

 or four leaves transplant about three inches 

 apart in coldframes, which must be protected 

 from incleinent weather during winter. In 

 early spring the plants may be set about five 

 inches apart in light, rich soil. They do best 

 in partial shade, especially if flowers are 

 desired during the summer, a season which 

 reduces the size of the blossoms. Spring- 

 sown seed rarely produces as satisfactory 

 plants as autumn-sown. 



Pea, Perennial (or Everlasting). Sow 

 seeds where the plants are to remain, but 

 avoid placing them in borders with shrubbery, 

 etc. Among rocks, in waste places, and in 

 any kind of soil they will thrive. 



Pea, Sweet. For earliest bloom sow the 

 seeds about four inches deep in late autumn 

 where the plants are to remain, choosing a 

 deep, rich, rather heavy loam and a dry 

 situation. Spring succeSsional sowings should 

 commence with the opening of the season, the 

 seeds being sown in trenches from four to six 

 inches deep, but being covered with less than 

 two inches of soil. Thin the seedlings to 

 stand eight inches apart, and, as they grow, 

 draw soil toward thein until they are ridged 

 an inch or inore above the level. Provide 

 trellis of poultry wire, brush or strings. For 

 long season of bloom cut the flowers daily. 

 Dwarf sweet peas need no trellis and may 

 stand as close as twelve inches. 



Peony. Plant the crowns two inches deep 

 in rich, moist garden soil, first having shaken 

 off any old soil. When well established and 

 well fed they should produce blossoms 

 abundantly for a quarter of a century. They 

 will also thrive in poorer soils. 



Pextstemon. See Beard- tongue. 

 Petunia. Sow the seed in a hotbed or 

 coldframe, and when the seedlings are a few 

 inches high transplant about eighteen inches 

 apart in good soil. Later sowings may be 

 made in the garden. Double varieties pro- 

 duce less viable seed than single ones. The 

 double and some of the choice single ones 

 are often propagated by cuttings. 



Phlox, Annual {P. Drurnmondii). For 

 earliest plants, sow the seed in a hotbed or 

 coldframe in early spring and transplant the 

 seedlings when a few inches tall about eight 

 inches apart in good garden soil. Sowings 

 may also be made in spring out of doors when 

 the soil has become warm, or in late autumn 

 where the plants are to stand the following 

 season. The first method is usually most 

 satisfactory. 



Phlox, Perennial. Plant the nursery- 

 grown plants in rich, fairly moist loamy 

 soil. Divide the slowly enlarging clump 

 every five years or perhaps oftener. Give 

 annual dressings of stable manure, and keep 

 clear of weeds, especially grasses, in the 



clumps. By pinching out the tips of the 

 shoots in late spring the blossoming season 

 may be changed to late summer instead of 

 early summer. 



Phlox Subulata. See Moss-pink. 

 Pink. See Dianthus. 

 Plume Grass. See Ravenna Grass. 

 Poker Plant. See Flame-flower. 

 Polyanthus. Treat like half-hardy prim- 

 roses. See Primroses. Sow the seed as 

 soon as possible after its collection. A inild 

 greenhouse or hotbed will suit them. The 

 soil should be light, fairly rich and porous, 

 and until the plants are well established 

 should be partially shaded. The hardy 

 kinds do well out-of-doors in partially shaded 

 situations where the soil never becomes dry 

 and where the air is humid. In warm and 

 dry situations they fail. The choice varieties 

 may be propagated by cuttings or division. 

 The half-hardy kinds and those most sus- 

 ceptible to dryness may be bedded out each 

 spring like pansies and removed to deeper 

 shade and greater moisture as soon as they 

 have flowered, their place being taken by 

 other plants. During winter they may be 

 kept in coldframes, previously having been 

 divided. 



Polypteris. Start under glass, trans- 

 planting the seedlings when about two inches 

 tall to small pots or flats, and when the weather 

 becomes settled to the open ground in a 

 rather sunny sandy place. Allow about two 

 feet between plants. Later sowings may 

 be inade in the open ground. 



Poppy (Papaver). Sow the seeds in early 

 spring where they are to remain, since the 

 plants will not bear transplanting. Choose, 

 when possible, a moderately rich sand}^ loam, 

 and thin the plants to not less than nine 

 inches for the small growing annuals and 

 eighteen inches for the larger kinds. To 

 lengthen the season of bloom, allow no seed 

 capsules to ripen on the plants. The perennial 

 species may also be propagated by division 

 of the clumps and also by root cuttings taken 

 in autumn and grown under glass. They 

 usually require about twice as much room as 

 the annuals. 



Poppy, California (Esclischohia) . Best 

 results are obtained from seed of the present 

 season sown in the early autumn where the 

 plants are to remain, protected during the 

 winter with a light inulch of litter or lea^-es, 

 thinned to about ten inches apart in spring. 

 They may be thinned to half this distance 

 in the autumn, if they are numerous or 

 crowded. The seeds may also be sown in 

 the open ground in early spring, bvit they are 

 then rather slow and uncertain compared to 

 fresher seed. ■ 



Poppy, Mexican {Mentzelid). Sow seeds 

 in early spring in a mild hotbed or greenhouse 

 and transplant the seedlings to small, well- 



