ANNUAL AND BIENNIAL PLANTS FOR THE FLOWER GARDEN. 113 



we find plants of fine foliage or habit, such as the Hemp, Castor Oil 

 Tree and other Mallows, Maize and other grasses, Cotton and Blessed 

 Thistles. The annual Chrysanthemums of Southern Europe and 

 Northern Africa, and indeed of our own fields, are charming in 

 effect. The annual Convolvuli are pretty, and in southern gardens 

 may be used charmingly. The annual Larkspurs are so little used in 

 gardens that it is only in seed farms that we have the pleasure of 

 seeing them now and then in all their beauty. The annual Chinese 

 Pinks are very charming grown in sunny beds and good soil. Our 

 native Foxglove, which takes such good care of itself in many of our 

 woodlands, breaks in the hands of the gardener into beautiful varieties 

 well worth growing, if not in the garden, in shrubberies and in copses 

 and woods. It is a good plan, when any ground is broken up for 

 fence-making or rough planting, to scatter a few seeds of the white 

 and other pretty kinds and leave them to take care of themselves. 

 There are many graceful grasses which may be treated as annuals, and 

 their flowers, like the Everlasting flowers, be in bloom through the 

 winter. The night-smelling Stocks will appeal to some, but are rather 

 too strong in odour for others. The annual Hibiscus when well grown 

 are effective plants, and the same may be said of the Hollyhock, for 

 which probably the best way is to raise it from seed, as in that way 

 we can fight better against the fungus which destroys it. The Single 

 Hollyhock is worthy of much care and is often very effective. The 

 Flaxes are very pretty annuals, red and blue, and even the common 

 cultivated Flax is a beautiful plant. The beauty of the Ice plants, of 

 which we see so little in our country, is fairly shown by the little 

 annual one. In our day quite a series of beautiful forms of Mignon- 

 ette have come to add to the charms of that always welcome plant. 

 The annual and biennial Evening Primroses are often extremely 

 valuable and showy. 



The Sweet Scabious are pretty and varied in colour and so 

 fragrant. Of Sweet Peas there is a delightful series in our own day, 

 when so many kinds have been raised that one could easily make a 

 garden of them. No words can exaggerate their value, either in 

 mixed or separate colours, and they should be both autumn and 

 spring sown, so as to get a chance of those fine tall hedges of Sweet 

 Peas which come where we sow in autumn and get the plants safely 

 through the winter, and they are doubly valuable owing to the many 

 beautiful new kinds. Zinnia is extremely fine in colour, but in our 

 country it wants warm soils and the best positions in order to do well. 

 In Italy, Austria, and South Germany they are much more beautiful 

 and vigorous than with us. 



Some annual plants, like the Cornflower, Sweet Sultan, Sweet Pea, 

 Scabious, are precious for cutting for the house, and may be grown 



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