ANNUALS 



ANNUALS 



297 



run into the bed. If beds are made in the turf, see that 

 they are 3 feet or more wide, so that the grass roots 

 will not undermine them. Against the shrub borders, 

 this precaution may not be necessary: it is desirable 

 that the flowers fill all the space between the overhang- 

 ing branches and the sod. 



The plants should not be allowed to bear seed, else 

 they will be e.xliausted and the season of bloom will 

 be short. Sweet peas, for example, soon spend them- 

 selves and dry up if the pods are allowed to ripen. The 

 frequent cutting of blooms prolongs the season. 



The kinds. 



Most of the staple or general-purpose types of an- 

 nuals in the North are the following: petunias, phloxes, 

 pinks or dianthuses, larkspurs or delphiniums, calliop- 

 sis or coreopsis, pot marigolds or calendulas, bachelor's 

 buttons or Centaurea Cyaiius, clarkias, zinnias, mari- 

 golds or tagetes, coUinsias, gilias, California poppies or 

 eschscholtzias, verbenas, poppies, China asters, sweet 

 peas, nemophilas, portulacas, silenes, candytufts or 

 iberis, alyssum, stocks or matthiolas, morning-glories, 

 nasturtiums or tropaeolums, wallflowers, gaillardias, 

 snapdragons, coxcombs, lobelias, four-o'clocks, ama- 

 ranths, balsams, sweet sultans, salpiglossis, scabiosas, 

 nieotianas, and pansies. Other species are mostly of 

 special or particular use, not general-use tj'pes. In the 

 South, and occasionally at the North, some of the 

 annuals come up voluntarily year after year from self- 

 sown seeds, e.g., petunias, phloxes and morning-glories. 



Late sowings, even as late as June in the latitude of 

 New York City, may be made of such things as China 

 aster, sweet alyssum, California poppj' (Eschscholtzia), 

 calliopsis or coreopsis, portulaca, calendula, phlox, zin- 

 nia, marigold, candytuft, mignonette, petunia. Late- 

 blooming beds of these and other annuals may be 

 secured by this delayed sow'ing. The tendency to sow 

 everything for early bloom deprives the garden of 

 much freshness and interest in autumn. 



The numbers of varieties in some of these long- 

 cultivated species-groups are surprising large, and they 

 often appeal to collectors. If a collector desires annuals 

 for autumn display, for example, he will find that 

 zinnias have about forty current varieties, annual 

 pinks about fifty, petunias about sixty, pansies sixty 

 to seventy, balsams over sixty, and stocks perhaps 

 300, all of which may be prolonged more or less into 

 autumn. But the most appropriate and varied of these 

 annuals are the China asters, which have about 4.50 

 varieties. Owing to the greater variety of everything 

 abroad, collectors naturally send to Europe for large 

 collections, and the very low duty on flower seeds has 

 stimulated the collecting of annuals. Perennial flowers 

 are more difficult to import, but many persons have 

 recently imported fifty or more varieties of the fol- 

 lowing: gaillardia about 100 varieties, hardy chry- 

 santhemums 100 and more, florists' pentstemons more 

 than 150 (not sufficiently hardy), delphiniums over 

 200, and phlox 3.50. Unfortunately, collections of a 

 single flower rarely give an artistic effect, even when 

 at their best, owing to the difficulty of isolating trouble- 

 some colors in a garden that must be sunny, failures 

 among highly bred varieties, the fact that the early, 

 midseason and late sections mix poorly, and so on. The 

 obvious limitation of gardens devoted to one kind of 

 flower is that they are unattractive out of season, and 

 therefore it is best to isolate them. There are practically 

 no annuals that bloom satisfactorily throughout sum- 

 mer and autumn. 



Background plants, for bold mass-displays of color 

 in the rear parts of the grounds or along the borders 

 may be secured from some of the coarser species. 

 Good plants for such u.se are: sunflower and castor-bean 

 for the back rows; zinnias for bright effects in the scar- 

 lets and hlacs; .Vfrican marigolds for brilliant yellows; 

 nieotianas for whites. Unfortunately, we have no ro- 



bust-growing annuals with good blues. Some of the 

 larkspurs and the browallias are perhaps the nearest 

 approach to them. 



For lower-growing and less prominent mass-displays, 

 the following are good: Cahfornia poppies for oranges 

 and yellows; sweet sultans for purples, whites, and pale 

 yellows; petunias for purples, violets, and whites; lark- 

 spurs for blues and violets; bachelor's buttons (or corn- 

 flowers) for blues; calhopsis and coreopsis and calendu^ 

 las for yellows; gaillardias for red-yellows and orange- 

 reds; China asters for many colors except yellows. 



For still less robustness, good mass-displays can be 

 made with the following: alyssums and candytufts for 

 whites; phloxes for whites and various pinks and reds; 

 lobelias and browallias for blues; pinks for whites and 

 various shades of pink; stocks for whites and reds; wall- 

 flowers for brown-yellows; verbenas for many colors. 



Vines are abundant among the annuals, the most 

 prominent being morning-glory, sweet pea, cobea, 

 climbing nasturtium, Japanese hop, cypress-vine and 

 other ipomoeas, balloon-vine, scarlet-runner, moon- 

 flowers in the South. 



Some of the "everlastings" or immortelles are useful 

 as flower-garden subjects as well as for "dry-bouquets." 

 These "paper flowers" are always interesting to chil- 

 dren. The colors are bright, the blooms hold long on the 

 plant, and most of the kinds are very easy to grow. 

 Favorite groups are the different kinds of xeranthe- 

 mums and helichrysums. The globe amaranths, with 

 clover-like heads (sometimes known as bachelor's but- 

 tons), are good old favorites. Rhodanthes and acro- 

 cliniums are also good and reliable. 



Ornamental grasses should not be overlooked. They 

 add a note to the flower-garden and to bouquets that 

 is distinct and can be secured by no other plants. They 

 are easily grown. Some of the good annual grasses 

 are Agrosiis nebulosa, the brizas, Brotnus brizseformis, 

 the species of eragrostis, and pennisetums and Coix 

 Lachryma as a curiosity. Such good lawn grasses as 

 arundo, pampas-grass, eulalias, and erianthus are 

 perennials and therefore are not discussed here. 



The amateur would do well to make up Usts from 

 the most detailed seed catalogues. The following short 

 fists (under trade names) suggest a few things in sev- 

 eral categories: 



While-flowered annuals. 



Ageratum mexicanum album. Matthiola (Stocks), Cut-and- 



Alyssum, common sweet. Come-.^gain; Dresden Per- 



Centranthus macrosiphon petual: Giant Perfection; 



albus. White Pearl. 



China asters. Mirabilis longiflora alba. 



Convolvulus major. Nigella. 

 Dianthus, Double White Mar- Phlox, Dwarf Snowball; Leo- 



garet. polclii. 



Iberis amara; coronaria. Poppies, Flag of Truce; Shir- 



Ipomoea hederacea. _ ley: The Mikado. 



Lavatera alba. Zinnia. 

 Malope grandiflora alba. 



Yelloiv- and orange-flowered annuals. 



Cacalia lutea. Hibiscus africanus; Goldeo 



Calendula officinalis, com- Bowl. 



mon: Meteor; sulphurea; Ipomoea coceinea lutea. 



suffruticosa. Loasa tricolor. 



Calliopsis liiculor marmorata; Tagetes, various kinds. 



cardaminifolia; elegaiis. Thunbergia alata Fryeri; 



Cosmidium Burridgeanum. aurantiaca. 



Dimorphotheca aurantiaca. Tropieolum, Dwarf; Lady 



Erysimum Perofskianum. Bird; Tall, Schulzii. 



Eschscholtzia californica. Zinnia. 



Blue- and purple-flowered annuals. 



Ageratum mexicanum: mexi- Iberis umbellata: umbellata 



canum Dwarf. lilacina. 



Browallia Czerniakowski; Kaulfusaia amelloides; atro- 



elata. violacea. 



Centaurea Cyanus, Victoria Lobelia Erinus. 



Dwarf Compact; Cyanus Nigella. 



minor. Phlox variabilis atropurpurea. 



China asters of several Salvia farinacea. 



varieties. Specularia. 



Convolvulus minor; minor Verbena, Black-Blue; caerulea; 



unicaulis. Golden-leaved. 



Gilia achillesefolia; capitata. Whitlavia gloxinioidea. 



