34 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 



is about i| foot high, and its flowers are yellow, with a ring of 

 crimson round the disk. C. tinctoria (syn. C. bicolor) grows 

 from 2 feet to 3 feet high, and its bright brown and yellow 

 colouring makes it very attractive. In the hands of the seeds- 

 men this has given both rounded and stellate flowers, and a 

 range of colour from pale yellow to deep chestnut-red or 

 maroon. A fine dwarf strain has also been secured and is 

 first rate for bedding, as the plants grow only from 7 to I2 

 inches high and form compact, bushy specimens ; Golden Ray, 

 gold and brown ; Beauty, yellow and crimson ; and Crimson 

 King, dark crimson, are all good varieties in this dwarf or 

 " Tom Thumb " section. Some of the newer dwarf Coreopsis 

 have the margins of their ray florets recurved, and so they 

 have gained the descriptive title of "Cactus-flowered." 



Other species of some note are C. aristosa, 3 feet, orange- 

 yellow ; C. Atkinsofiiana, 3 feet, deep yellow with brown 

 centre ; C. carJaininafolia, 2 feet, yellow and brown-purple ; 

 C. Burridgci, 3 feet, crimson and yellow ; and C. coronata, i\ 

 foot, orange and crimson. 



Coreopsis is easily managed by sowing seeds thinly in 

 shallow drills in March, and transferring the plants to their 

 flowering positions when about 3 inches high. They also do 

 well when sown in September, in light soil, and transplanted 

 to rich soil in the early Spring ; so treated they come into 

 flower earlier than those sown in Spring. They also lend 

 themselves to treatment as Half-hardy Annuals, and do very 

 well raised in gentle heat in March and pricked off as early as 

 they become fit to be handled. 



COSMOS 



'* Mexican Aster" — ''Feathery Cosmea" 



Each year the graceful Mexican Aster, Cosmos bipinnatus 

 {Co)nposit(e), becomes increasingly popular. The newer strains 



