WHO'S WHO AMONG THE ANNUALS 189 



with a nai've disregard for the premises of old settlers, 

 and creating havoc in various of our cherished colour 

 schemes. In our garden the English Field Poppy is a 

 great offender along this line. It has not been planted 

 here for years, but every summer a scarlet tide rises 

 upon the garden, holding sway for almost two weeks, 

 when, "like fires extinguished by the rain," it is gone. 

 Each year I say it shall not happen again, for they mean 

 the destruction of many a choice colour arrangement, 

 but not yet have I been able to resist their blithe 

 clamour, or their flattering assumption of the quality of 

 mercy in me, which assures their safety, even in the 

 midst of the pink Pyrethrums. 



Sweet Alyssum, Cornflowers, Love-in-a-mist, Li- 

 naria, California Poppies, Sweet Sultans, Erysimums, 

 Annual Anchusa, Balsams, Marigolds, Nicotiana, Snap- 

 dragons, Mignonette, Candytuft, and Poppies of all sorts 

 are among those that do their best to become permanent 

 residents, and these seedlings, being available so early in 

 the year, are very handy for filling the places of such 

 recalcitrant perennials as may have taken themselves 

 off during the winter. Indeed this is one of the im- 

 portant uses of annuals. No winter passes but takes 

 its toll of "hardy " plants, and we have not always others 

 to take their places, or do not care to go to the expense 

 of buying, so that we should be grateful to this class of 

 flowers that will, for five or ten cents, cover the dis- 

 tressing blanks with loveliness. Biennials, too, leave 



