6 NATURE STUDY AND AGRICULTURE 
FLOWERS 
Annuals. — The most extensively planted flowers are the 
annuals. They yield the quickest returns. It takes several 
years to establish a good lot of perennials, but the annuals 
reward us with a rich harvest of bloom the same season that 
the seeds are sown. 
Hardy Annuals and Tender Annuals. — The seeds of many 
annuals may be planted in the open ground as early in the 
spring as it can be worked, or at about the time when wheat 
is seeded on the farm. Such plants are usually distinguished 
in the seed catalogues as ‘‘ hardy annuals.’’ Others are of 
tropical origin and are more tender. They cannot be planted 
out of doors till the ground is warm and danger of frost is 
past, — that is, at about the time for planting corn and 
melons and cucumbers. In many cases this is too late to 
bring them into bloom in good season, and they must be 
started in the house while it is still too cold for them outside. 
Season of Growth. — This early planting indoors should 
also include some of the more hardy species. It must be 
borne in mind that the period of growth before a plant 
will bloom varies greatly with different species. Some will 
blossom in ten or twelve weeks; others require so long a 
period that they cannot be used at all in the northern states. 
Moreover, we do not want to wait for all our flowers till 
late in autumn. 
Planting Annuals. — In the northwestern states the follow- 
ing plan is a good one: 
1. In March, plant in shallow boxes in the house asters, 
pansies,’ verbenas, petunias, zinnias, ageratums, stocks, and 
1 These pansies should begin to blossom late in summer, then live in the 
ground over winter, and resume their season of bloom early next spring. 
They may be regarded as biennials. 
