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er, a fine display of native flowers, and the tasteful setting- 

 forth of the entire display by a background of a few fine plants, 

 were the strong points of the flower department. 



SELF-SEEDING ANNUALLY. 



It is rare to find a New England woman who is not a lover 

 of flowers, with pets of the window or the garden which are 

 the poetry of her life, her joy and her consolation amid the hard 

 grind of her daily round of toil. Her regret is that she has 

 not the time, room or means at her command for a larger 

 cultivation of these glories of the Creator. I have a great 

 sympathy for these sisters, and never do I enjoy my own 

 flower garden so much as when enjoying their enjoyment ; for 

 never is woman so lovely as when in the presence of beautiful 

 flowers ; she pours out her best self in a love and admira- 

 tion as simple and as natural as that of a child. For the 

 large class, who have so great a love for flowers with but 

 limited means to gratify it, I have a few suggestions. 



We can get the largest returns from our flower gardens for 

 the labor invested by planting shrubs and perennials. These 

 will all know when Spring has come without any thought on 

 the part of the gardner, and with but little outlay of care will 

 make their annual returns of blossoms with each revolving 

 year. But let those who plan on a larger scale, but whose means 

 are limited, invest as large a proportion of their fund devoted 

 to flowers as possible in the self-seeding annuals. These 

 include many of our finest flowers, among which are the 

 Verbena, Balsam, Petunia, Sweet Alyssum,Abronia, Umbellata, 

 Candytuft, Catchfly, Cockscomb, tall Convolvulus, Coreopsis, 

 Escholtzia. Larkspur, Hibiscus, Ipomea, Marigolds, Mignon- 

 ette, Poppy, Salphiglossis. Portulacca and Pansy. All of 

 these can be depended upon to mature their seed every season, 

 if planted in the open ground by the first of June, and every 

 one of them if allowed to go to seed will show a progress of a 

 thousand fold each year. The Aster may be added to the list, 

 but it cannot always be depended upon to mature its seed 



