20 The Book of Annuals 



Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Okla- 

 homa. On the other hand, May fifteenth is none too 

 late for southern New Hampshire and Vermont, north- 

 em New York, the Great Lakes country, northern 

 Wisconsin and Minnesota, and central North Da- 

 kota. 



On account of this uncertainty as regards a safe 

 date for planting the tender annuals outdoors, many 

 of the annuals are started indoors in what are called 

 "flats," to be transplanted into the open after danger 

 of frost is past. It should be understood that in many 

 cases little is gained in this way. The plants grow 

 much more slowly indoors than they would outdoors 

 in June, so that very frequently those who start the 

 ordinary annuals in flats in April find that by plant- 

 ing seeds of the same annuals in the open in late 

 May the latter soon catch up to the former plants 

 and usually prove more sturdy. However, it is a de- 

 cided advantage to plant certain of the annuals in- 

 doors, as they are slow in starting and the best of 

 their bloom can be realized only by having the seed- 

 lings well under way when they are set out in May. 

 Such annuals are nicotiana, snapdragon, everlastings, 

 cosmos (particularly the late-flowering kinds), salpi- 

 glossis and moonflower. 



A hotbed is naturally the best of all places in which 

 to start annuals such as those just named, and any 

 others that may need an early start. The construc- 

 tion of a hotbed has been explained in so many other 

 books that it may well be omitted here. 



