78 THE SCHOOL GARDEN BOOK 



August. It thrives alike in half shade and in full sunshine, 

 persists on dry, barren soils, and gayly welcomes pupils back, 

 even though the school garden has been neglected during the 

 summer. While so vigorous and persistently hardy as to be 

 weedy, its widespread shoots are easily recognized in early 

 spring when appearing near other plants. They can be dug 

 up readily with a trowel, and because roots form just where 

 the underground stem upturns to the light these divisions can 

 be easily distributed to many home gardens. No skill is 

 requisite to insure their survival when transplanted; they 

 will endure the hardest usage. They wilt too easily to be of 

 value as cut flowers, however; their place is in the border. 



In September the Graceful Sunflower {Helianthus orgyalis) 

 crowns its spreading clump of lofty foliage with loose panicles 

 of single yellow flowers that possess the finest beauty of the 

 entire family. The tough stems rise to a height of eight or 

 even twelve feet, clothed closely with long, wavy, drooping 

 leaves, and both stalks and leaves bend and sway in the 

 breezes above lawn or garden plot so gracefully as to please 

 every eye. Although the clumps do not divide of them- 

 selves through decay of the main stalk, as is the case with 

 most other members of this group, if the separate shoots that 

 rise in the spring are cut several inches below the soil surface, 

 and replanted, they form roots readily, so the plant is easily 

 multiplied. Its height and the grace of all its parts give this 

 sunflower marked merit. 



There are other hardy sunflowers of value, second only to 

 these two. The Dahlia Sunflower {Helianthus multiflorus, 

 fl. pi.) is a fully double form of flower which closely resem- 

 bles a yellow Show Dahlia. It has a longer season of bloom 

 than most sunflowers, and is used to supply cut flowers. 



