78 PBACTIGAL GUIDE TO OABBEN PLANTS 



ANNUALS AND BIENNIALS 



Annuals are plants which spring from seed, flower, produce seed, and 

 die in one year or season of growth. Many biennial or even perennial 

 plants are treated as annuals, as it is less trouble to raise them from 

 seeds every year than to house or protect the roots during the winter. 

 ' Hardy' annuals are those plants which may be sown and grown 

 from start to finish in the open air. ' Tender ' or ' half hardy ' annuals, 

 on the other hand, require to be raised in gentle heat, and must not be 

 planted out until all danger from frost is past ; or if sown outside, the 

 operation must be performed later than for hardy annuals. 



Hardy annuals may be sown either in pots or pans, or in the places 

 outside in the garden in which they are intended to bloom : whether in 

 rows or patches of course depends on the grower. The soil should be 

 well prepared, raked over, and levelled. The seed should be sown very 

 thinly, and only slightly covered, and gently patted down with a flat 

 board or the back of a spade, and the general instructions given from 

 p. 42 to p. 46 must be borne in mind. 



When flowers are required in summer or autumn, hardy annuals 

 may be sown out of doors in March and April. If required in early 

 summer or late spring, then the seeds should be sown early in Septem- 

 ber. When thinned out, the sturdy seedhngs may be afterwards trans- 

 planted to their flowering positions, sufficiently early to become 

 established before winter. For further particulars the reader is referred 

 to the article on seeds and seed sowing, pp. 24, 42. 



Biennials. — These are plants which usually require two years or 

 seasons of growth to develop fully from seed before they die naturally. 

 The seeds of hardy biennials are usually sown from June to August, and 

 pricked out or transplanted in the autumn to the places in which they 

 are to bloom the following year. Tender biennials must be sown in 

 autumn in a frame or cool house, and the plants must be sheltered in 

 these places until about the end of the following May, when they may 

 be planted out. 



The following is a selection of the best annuals and biennials, or 

 plants that may be treated in the same way. 



