CHAPTER XIV 



BIENNIALS AND PERENNIALS 



A BIENNIAL in garden language is a plant that is sown 

 one summer, flowers the next, and then dies. As a matter 

 of fact, many so-called biennials are really perennials. 

 They struggle on and flower for several years until they have 

 exhausted themselves. But they are at their finest period of 

 development in the second year after seed-sowing, and it is the 

 best practice, therefore, to renew the stock every year. 



To the gardener in a hurry who, by the way, is not and never 

 can be really successful the necessity for waiting a full year 

 from the time of seed-sowing to the time of flowering is abhorrent. 

 Thus it is perhaps that so few amateur gardeners try the experi- 

 ment of growing biennials from seed. But it is one that is well 

 worth making, and some hints on their proper treatment follow. 



The month of May is the time to secure the seed. A penny 

 packet of each of a few varieties will provide you with enough 

 plants to stock a large garden, even if allowance be made for 

 some failures. 



Here is a list to select from : 



Variety 



Canterbury bells 

 Daisies 



Evening primrose 

 Forget-me-not . 

 Foxglove . 

 Hollyhocks 

 Honesty . . 

 Pansy 



Scabious . . 

 Sweet-william 

 Wallflower 

 123 



Colour 



Blue, rose and white 

 Red and white 

 Yellow (large flowers) 

 Blue, white and rose 

 White, purple and spotted 

 Many colours (double and single) 

 Purple, crimson and white 

 Immense variety 



Yellow, purple, white and carmine 

 Crimson, yellow and white 

 Yellow, purple and blood-red 



