CHAPTER IV 



ANNUALS AND BIENNIALS 



So much attention is devoted nowadays to herbaceous 

 perennials that we are in danger of neglecting many 

 families of beautiful flowering plants of less permanent 

 character. Apart from the fact that many of our most 

 cherished garden flowers are of annual or biennial dura- 

 tion — Sweet Peas, Mignonette, Gaillardias, Scabious, 

 Evening Primroses and fragrant Nicotiana, to mention 

 but a few — we must remember that no other class of 

 plants is capable of fulfilling quite the same degree of 

 usefulness. Were it not for annuals, newly made 

 gardens would be practically barren of flowers until 

 the second season ; as it is we may have an abundance 

 of bloom and colour within a few months. A severe 

 winter will often levy toll upon the gay company of the 

 herbaceous border, so that the coming of spring reveals 

 blanks and earth spaces which must somehow be filled. 

 Even supposing that there is a reserve supply of per- 

 ennials, it is usually too late to move them with safety, 

 and in any case the chances of their rapid establishment 

 are exceedingly doubtful. By filling the bare patches 

 with April sown annuals, summer will find the border 

 as good as ever, and if certain colour schemes have 

 been arranged, the choice of annuals is so great that we 

 can generally supply any particular shade or combina- 

 tion to replace that which is lost. Then again there are 

 many who use their cottage homes as summer residences 

 only, closing them during the winter and early months 



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