86 THE BLOSSOM CIRCLE OF THE YEAR 



germinate easily, grow only in sunny positions, but give most 

 beautiful effects. For length of time of flowering, for cut flowers 

 and for fragrance, nothing is finer than the Antirrhinums. The 

 first stem that comes up is apt to be very tender; this should be 

 pinched off, and the plant then becomes strong and stocky and 

 the flower stalks come up by dozens. The colors are soft and 

 velvety and the blooming time is for several months in the Sum- 

 mer, then a rest period, and then again a season of bloom that 

 lasts from February to July and August. All from one planting. 

 The Verbenas do not stop blooming for more than a month or 

 two in the early Winter. A mass of scarlet Verbenas in the shrub- 

 bery borders in Winter is a most charming picture. Both of these 

 plantings may be considered and treated as perennials in the 

 South. 



One March I planted two packages of Dahlia seed. Twentieth 

 Century or Orchid-flowered and Double Cactus, and no planting 

 that I have ever made gave me such returns in brilliance and 

 beauty as did those seeds. They were planted in boxes and 

 transplanted when strong enough to the background of the borders. 

 There must have been at least one hundred plants. They were 

 cut back and treated exactly as were those which were already 

 rooted, and when the Fall months came on, from early September 

 until late frost in November, the garden was ablaze with their 

 beauty. 



Zinnias, as we know them now, deserve a place in every garden. 

 They should be planted in the open at this time. Use Dwarf 

 Large-flowering for masses of color on the edges of the borders 

 and the Giant varieties for the backgrounds. The mixed colors 

 should never be bought. If the white and salmon-pink are 

 planted near together the result is good. The scarlet varieties 

 are wonderfully bright and most effective if planted with the 

 white Petunias or Phlox and with the Salvias. The crimson 

 varieties are to be avoided, for they do not come true to color, 

 and then the magenta tones are projected into the color scheme 

 to the dismay of the artistic gardener. 



Asters make stronger plants when the seed is sown in the 

 sunny borders where they are to bloom, although they grow fairly 



