96 GARDEN GUIDE 



In a hot, sunbeaten, dry place, sow the Portulaca or Sunplant. The 

 metallic seeds self sow and the plant will come up year after year. This is 

 the old-fashioned "Seven Sisters" plant which some persons fancy bears 

 seven colored blooms on one plant. 



In some pots, to be placed on posts or on a wall, plant a few of the 

 trailing Lobelias (Lobelia erinus) or a few Nasturtiums. 



In a corner where you want something out of the ordinary, plant a 

 few seeds of the Giant Spider plant (Cleome). The flowers are rosy crim- 

 son, and possess long filaments and pistils followed by long, slender seed 

 pods. They are strong, attractive, but a trifle weedy. 



Edge a bed of Gannas or other tall plants with Fountain Grass (Penni- 

 setum). 



To combine with bouquets, grow a little clump of Cloud Grass (Agros- 

 tis nebulosa). 



For the Sweet Pea* bouquets do not neglect planting some Baby's 

 Breath (Gypsophila elegans). This will look well grown in a bed with an- 

 nual Larkspurs or with Stocks. Baby's Breath must be planted several 

 times during the season if a continuous supply is needed. 



Some persons admire small hedges of Summer Cypress, or Kochia, 

 but this plant turns a very bad bluish-crimson color in Autumn a color 

 which harmonizes with nothing. 



When the season does not prove too moist, or when planted upon 

 sandy soils, the dwarf or cupid Sweet Peas are excellent. They bear rather 

 long stems and very good flowers. 



No annual flower blooms for so long a time as the Petunia. If the 

 colors can be selected before setting the plants into the bed, the results will 

 be better. It will be unnecessary to combine them with anything else, as they 

 are all-sufficient, and are as useful for beds two feet square as for huge 

 borders a hundred feet long and four wide. 



Where a dainty blue edging plant is wanted, use Swan River Daisy, 

 (Brachycome), placing the plants about six inches apart. 



If you must neglect your garden, but want a good show of color, try 

 huge beds of Zinnias or Marigolds. 



If you wonder what to use for edging any bed, decide to use Sweet 

 Alyssum; it is a most adaptable border plant. When it appears to be nearly 

 through blooming, cut it back and it will start up again. 



It is only proper to take away a little of the enthusiasm for 

 annuals, by reading from " The Amateur's Garden," a delightful book 

 by Geo. W. Cable. He quotes a man as saying: " I have seen a 

 house, whose mistress was too exclusively fond of annuals, stand 

 waiting for its shoes and stockings from October clear round to August, 

 and then barefooted again in October. In such gardening there is too 

 much love's labor lost. If one's grounds are so small that there is no 

 better place for the annuals they can be planted against the shrubs, 

 as the shrubs are planted against the building or fence. At any rate, 

 they should never be bedded in the midst of a lawn." 



EVERLASTING FLOWERS 



It is always interesting to grow a few everlasting or "straw" flowers. 

 If they are picked in their proper stages, the leaves removed and the 



