THE ANNUAL GARDEN 61 



developing, for annuals do not have the root system 

 possessed by the long-lived perennials and shrubs. 

 Bone meal is a good fertilizer for annuals, and a little 

 nitrate of soda worked into the soil about the plants 

 after they are up and have been cultivated once, will 

 hasten them along wonderfully sometimes, but should 

 not be used on those few plants that do best in rather 

 poor soil, like the nasturtium, which, given too much 

 food, produces a rank growth of leaves at the expense 

 of blossoms. 



Tall hedges, low hedges, screens, massed bedding, 

 ribbon bedding, vines for all positions — ^porches, per- 

 golas, trellises, vases, window and porch boxes, hang- 

 ing baskets and the like — ^may all be recruited from 

 the useful annual roster. 



Annuals are especially useful in filling in beds or 

 edgings planted to spring blooming bulbs — ^tulips, 

 hyacinths and the like — especially where it is not 

 desired to lift these when their season of bloom is 

 past. A light scattering of seed of any low-growing, 

 or slender annual — one that does not make a suffi- 

 ciently strong root growth to interfere with the wel- 

 fare of the bulbs, such as petunias, verbenas, asters, 

 phlox, lobelias, the dwarf morning glories and any 

 number of other flowers — ^will keep that portion of 

 the garden in full bloom for the remainder of the 

 season. 



Better still, plants of such annuals as it is desired 



