OllNAMIiNTAL ANNUALS. 



501 



Ibcris umbellata 



coronaria 



Blalcomia maritima 

 Viola tricolor 



556. Culture of half-hardy annuals. — " Tlie seeds may be sown either in 

 plunged pots, or in a bed of earth on a slight hot-bed, in February or March ; 

 and after they have come up they may be pricked out into plunged pots, or 

 into the earth covering another slight hot-bed, where they may remain till the 

 beginning of May, when they should be ti'ansplanted into the beds or borders 

 in the open garden where they are finally to remain. In most cases, how- 

 ever, it is not worth while to prick out the plants in a second hot-bed; and 

 sometimes they may be sown in pots, and thinned out to two or three plants 

 in a pot; and when they have grown two or three inches high, the ball of 

 earth, and the plants in it, may be turned out into the open border. This 

 mode is well adapted for strong clayey soils, because when plants from a hot- 

 bed are transplanted into such soils, they commonly receive a severe check ; 

 whereas when they are turned out with balls, provided the soil round them is 

 settled by a good watering, they receive no check whatever. The soil in 

 whic)] half-hardy annuals are raised, should be light and rich, because it is 

 only in such a soil that the tender seedlings will grow vigorously, and produce 

 numerous fibrous roots, without which they would produce but little effect 

 when turned out into the open garden." — {Ladies' Companion to the Floiver- 

 Garden, fifth edit., p. 8.) 



557. List of half-hardy annuals, which should be raised on a hotbed in 

 March, and planted out in May. Those which are not marked with a star 

 may be sown in the open ground in April or May, but when thus treated they 

 do not flower till autumn. 



Name. 

 *Ageratum mexicanura 

 *Amaranthus tricolor 

 Argemone Barclayana 



sulphurea 



*Aster sinensis var. (China aster) 



nana 



tenellus 



*Balsamina hortensis 

 *Brachycome ibcridifolia 



alba 



Cacalia sonchifolia 

 *Calandrinia graudiflora 



speciosa 



• discolor 



Calendula plu\'ialis 



bybrida 



Campanula Lorei, and varieties 

 *Celosia cristata (Coclc's-comb) 

 ■ nana 



*Celsia, or Alonsoa, urticxfolia, C. cretica, and C. orientalis. 



