THK first and most important section of our FLOWER GARDEN is composed mainly of 

 ANNUALS, that is, those plants that live but one season. The seeds are sown in the spring, the 

 plants arrive at maturity in the early summer, bud, blossom, ripen their seeds, and die in the 

 autumn, having performed their entire mission. This class of plants, from their nature, are 

 valuable treasures to both the amateur and professional gardener. There is no forgotten spot 

 in the garden, none which early flowering bulbs or other spring flowers have left unoccupied that 

 need remain bare during the summer ; no bed but can be made brilliant with these favorites, for 

 there is no situation or soil in which some of the varieties will not flourish. Some members 

 delight in shade, others in sunshine ; some are pleased with a cool clay bed, while others are 

 never so comfortable as in a sandy soil and burning sun. The seed, too, is so cheap as to be 

 within the reach of all, while a good collection of bedding plants would not come within the 

 resources of many, and yet very few beds filled with expensive bedding plants look as well as a 

 good bed of our best Annuals, like Phlox, Petunia or Portulaca, and for a vase or basket many 

 of our Annuals are unsurpassed. Though we risk our reputation for good taste, perhaps, in 

 making this statement, yet we have seen nothing better, and few things that we shall remember 

 longer or more pleasantly than a vase filled almost entirely with the striped Petunia, and showing 

 all day and every day hundreds of flowers. To the Annuals, also, we are indebted mainly for 

 our brightest and best flowers in the late summer and autumn months. Without the Phlox and 

 Petunia and Portulaca and Aster and Stock, our autumn gardens would be poor indeed, and how 

 we would miss the sweet fragrance of the Alyssum, Mignonette and Sweet Pea if any ill-luck 

 should deprive us of these sweet favorites. Many of our beautiful climbers, such as the Convol- 

 vulus and Cobcea scandens, and nearly all our Everlastings and Ornamental Grasses are included 

 in this section. 



This Department, however, embraces some Perennials, but only those that flower the first 

 season, though they do not die at its close, like the Annuals. Among these are the Pansy, Dian- 

 thus, Antirrhinum, &c., that live for several years under favorable circumstances. In our country, 

 however, most of these are usually short-lived, and are really only to be considered as hardy 

 Annuals. Under the influence of spring showers and summer suns they mature rapidly, and 

 flower so freely that by autumn the plants are so exhausted they cannot endure the rigor of our 

 winters, and in the spring are usually worthless, if not entirely lifeless. By removing a portion 

 of the flowers in the summer, and encouraging a vigorous growth, this class of plants will remain 

 in perfection at least two years. If seed is sown late in the spring, or even in summer, young 

 plants will give but few, if any, flowers the first season, and the second summer will be in perfec- 

 tion. Many of the flowers that we treat as Annuals, sowing fresh seeds and growing new plants 

 every year, because the plants are destroyed by frost in the autumn, are really Biennials or Per- 

 ennials in their Southern home. 



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