Gardening for Amateurs 



425 



Annual Larkspurs. 



Hardy and Half'hardy Annuals 



BEFORE dealing with the cultivation 

 of annuals a few lines descriptive of 

 what they are may not be out of 

 place. Strictly speaking an annual is a 

 plant which grows from seed, flowers, and 

 dies within a year. However, instead of 

 keeping the roots of some few perennials 

 during the winter they are treated as 

 annuals, these including, for example, 

 Antirrhinum and Scabious. Annuals are 

 divided into three sections hardy, half- 

 hardy, and tender. The seeds of hardy 

 annuals may be sown out of doors, where 

 they will grow and flower without the aid of 

 glass or artificial heat. Half-hardy annuals 

 require rather more favourable conditions 

 than those generally prevailing out of doors 

 during March or April, consequently, if they 

 need a fairly long period to reach the flower- 

 ing stage, the seeds must be sown under 



glass. A few half-hardy annuals, however, 

 are quite satisfactory if sown outside during 

 April and May, and will then flower in about 

 three months. Tender annuals must be 

 grown entirely under glass in this country ; 

 they will be treated of later in the chapters 

 devoted to greenhouse flowers. 



For providing a brilliant display in the 

 garden in a comparatively short time 

 annuals are unequalled. Though the flower 

 lover may go into a new house at the end of 

 March, and find the garden empty, he may, 

 by the free use of annuals, have a delightful 

 show in the short space of three or four 

 months, and at a trifling outlay. Annuals 

 are thus within the reach of all, and few, if 

 any, plants are easier to grow. Many kinds 

 thrive splendidly in town and suburban 

 gardens, where they should be grown among 

 perennials in the mixed flower border. A 



