LESS VALUABLE ANNUALS 93 



Zinnias are a credit to any one, and if the season is a fairly 

 bright one they will succeed under reasonable care, if a sunny 

 position is assigned them, and they are raised in February or 

 March in a temperature of 60° and quickly transplanted 

 into boxes or a bed in a frame, there to grow and harden 

 ready for planting out in early June. 



The species from which the garden race of Zinnias has 

 come is Z. elegans. The colours available are white, cream, 

 yellow, salmon, rose, scarlet, vermilion, purplish-red, and 

 crimson. All the shades associate so well in a bed that it is 

 not necessary to keep the colours separate unless there is a 

 colour scheme in view. In the " grandiflora " strain the flowers 

 measure 3 inches across, and the plants bearing them grow 

 about 2 feet to i\ feet high. Z. Haageana, i\ foot, -orange- 

 yellow ; and Z. tenuifolia, 2 feet, red, are also worthy of 

 cultivation. 



Zinnias love rich soil and a bright, warm position. It 

 frequently happens that they fail because they are starved 

 as seedlings, and planted out too early. Eight inches to a 

 foot apart is a good distance at which to plant. Planted 

 in rich soil, on a slightly sloping bank facing to the south, 

 Zinnias can be grown with gratifying success. 



CHAPTER IV 

 ANNUALS OF LESS GARDEN VALUE 



AMMOBIUM 



" Everlasting Sandflozver " 



Ammobium alatum is a Half-hardy Annual from Australia ; 

 it belongs to the Order Composites, and is one of the " Ever- 

 lasting " flowers. The yellow blooms are borne on stems 

 from I foot to 2 feet high, and are of papery texture; A. a. 



