The Garden Magazine 

 March, 1919 



Practical Manual for the Annual Garden 



What Annuals To Grow — And How 



Strictly speaking annuals are those plants which 

 live, bloom and die all within one year. The gardener, 

 however, includes a few others which, though actually 

 longer lived, are treated on a single year basis and re- 

 planted each season, as for example, Salvia, Canna, 

 Dahlia (in the North), etc. 



One classification of annuals gives three groups, as 

 follows: 



1. Hardy — to be sown outdoors and either thinned to stand 

 the fight distances apart, or transplanted while small. However, 

 of this class, do not transplant Poppies, Eschscholtzia, Bartonia, 

 Venus'-looking-glass, Lupine, Malope and Dwarf Convolvulus. 



2. Half hardy sorts — to be sown in boxes in February or March 

 in the dwelling, or a hotbed, and set out when the weather becomes 

 warm. Some of these, notably Pansy, may be sown in the early fall 

 and wintered over in a well protected coldframe. 



3. Tender annuals — to be sown in a greenhouse or conser- 

 vatory where the temperature can be controlled (60 to 70 degrees F. 

 is needed), and set out only when all danger of cold weather is posi- 

 tively past. 



Annuals may also be: (1) continuous bloomers, which, like 

 Pansies, Bachelor's Buttons, and Cosmos, continue in blossom for a 

 considerable period, providing the flowers are picked before they go 

 to seed; and (2) temporary bloomers, which make a vivid display then 

 rapidly die. The latter must be so arranged in the garden., and 

 sufficient plantings must be made that a succession may be assured. 



Soil Preparation and Seed Sowing 



Since annuals are for the most part shallow rooted, 

 and occupy the ground for only one season, it is not 

 necessary to trench or prepare the ground as deeply as 

 in planting perennials. It should, however, be spaded 

 up, well enriched, and limed, to a depth of a foot to a 

 foot and a half. 



Few annuals are fastidious as to soil, except that it 

 should be neither permanently wet nor actually dry. 

 Any good warm garden loam with natural drainage, and 

 a good supply of humus is satisfactory; a light rather 

 sandy soil, however, tends to produce quicker results, 

 especially if reinforced with bone meal and quick acting 

 fertilizers. Sweet Peas and Pansies are somewhat ex- 

 ceptional in that they thrive on heavier, moister soils 

 than most others. 



Prepare the ground at least a fortnight in advance 

 of planting time; then, just before planting, rake and 

 rerake the surface two or three inches until absolutely 

 mellow, level, and fine. This is especially necessary 

 when small seeds are to be sown directly outdoors. 

 But do not attempt either this final fitting or the ac- 

 tual planting if the soil is too moist to crumble. 



Sowing. Indoors, sprinkle the seed on the surface 

 of the soil and either press it into the soil with a board, 

 or sift a very little mixed 



"I know the secrets of the seeds of flowers, 

 Hidden and warm with showers 7 ' — Alice Meynell 



the outdoor beds with small branches helps to prevent 

 evaporation and any disturbance of the soil. 



Transplant or thin as soon as the seedlings can be 

 handled. In the first transplanting set them about 

 two inches apart each way; the next time, about four 

 inches; if there is time for a third transplanting, put the 



Why transplant? To give room to 

 grow. Compare the left cluster with the 

 one and two time transplants 



seedlings in small pots, and they will be much better 

 able to withstand the final setting out. 



Two Good Rules 



(1) Buy only the best seeds obtainable. 



(2) Buy different colors separately, not in mixtures. 



Why To Grow Annuals 



There is no virtue and less satisfaction in merely 

 sowing seed and raising plants. There should be a 

 definite plan and purpose, an ideal, if you will, behind 

 every specimen. The grower of annuals, for example, 

 should know whether he is planting a certain variety — ■ 



(1) Because of the effect its blossoms will produce, either cut 

 and removed to the dwelling, or as a focal point in the garden pic- 

 ture; (2) because of the striking quality of the plant as a whole, 

 including both foliage, form and flower; or (3) because of the part 

 it is to play in making the mass effect of the garden display more per- 

 fect. Just as the faint note of a single instrument in a huge orches- 

 tra, although apparently submerged in the whole volume of sound, 

 is after all an essential feature of the orchestration, so a single plant 

 or group of plants may exist unobserved, although its removal would 

 destroy the pictorial harmony of the entire composition. 



Where Annuals May Be Grown 



The typical bedding plants — Coleus, AlternantheraS, 

 Geraniums, etc., are annuals in practice, and this 

 group of plants as a whole is especially adapted to use 



sand and leaf mold over 

 it. Outdoors, plant in shal- 

 low drills, the depth being 

 about four to five times 

 the diameter of the seed. 

 In the case of the larger 

 and more hardy sorts that 

 can be sown very early, or 

 even in the fall, this guide 

 may be disregarded, Sweet 

 Peas being sown from four 

 inches in spring, to ten or 

 twelve inches deep in the 

 fall. Always firm the soil 

 with a board (this is better 

 than by treading) as soon 

 as the seed is planted, and 

 before it is watered. 



Watering. Indoors 

 spread a cloth over the 

 soil and sprinkle with water 

 until the soil is moist 

 throughout; of hold the 

 flat in a pan of water un- 

 til the soil is moistened 

 by capillary attraction. 

 Outdoors sprinkle gently 

 so as not to wash the seeds 

 out. Covering the flats 

 with panes of glass, and 



SURE-FIRE ANNUALS BY COLOR AND SEASON OF BLOOM 



in beds; but this is coming to mean something else than 

 the gaudy stars, crescents and various geometrical 

 patches that beautified (?) the lawns of many a home 

 not many years ago. Both in formal gardening and 

 in natural landscape work, the annual has its appointed 

 and important place. 



The border is also a most appropriate place for an- 

 nuals even though the term has gradually come to sug- 

 gest perennials first of all. Here the low growing sorts 

 can well provide a soft edging between sturdy perennial 

 and smooth green turf, while Cosmos, Sweet Peas, Sun- 

 flowers and other vigorous growers may serve equally 

 well as a background for less lofty perennials of more 

 bushy habit. 



A third place for the annual is the odd corner of the 

 garden where nothing else has yet been established — ■ 

 the bit of fence over which perennial vines have yet to 

 climb, the old tool shed that is next year to be pulled 

 down, the bit of rocky ground that you are not ready 

 to put in plantable condition but that at present is an 

 eyesore. In such places -vigorous, old fashioned, reli- 

 able annuals, like faithful servants of a past genera- 

 tion will ensconse themselves, fight off intruding 

 weeds, and unobtrusively beautify the scene as long as 

 they are called upon to do so. 



But don't scatter annuals or any other plants about 

 the lawn; keep them grouped and massed about a 

 central greensward. 



When Using Annuals Remember 



IfThat the more brilliant the flower, the harder it is to combine it 

 with others. 



KThat you cannot expect the best early spring flowers from spring 

 sown annuals even if started under glass. Therefore rely on peren- 

 nials and spring flowering shrubs for the season's first blossoms and 

 let the annuals play their part between July and October. They'll 

 do it, never fear. 



HThat if you want plenty of cut flowers, raise annuals in rows like 

 vegetables, in a part of the garden where looks don't count. In the 

 beds and borders leave the flowers as long as they remain beautiful. 

 UThat, although the majority of the common annuals are hardy and 

 will stand a good deal of rough treatment and survive even in un- 

 congenial surroundings, all of them, like all other plants, will gener- 

 ously repay care and attention. 



HThat the quicker a result is obtained, the less time it is likely 

 to last. Consequently, plan for a continual succession of short 

 lived blooming periods, rather than expect a single sowing of one 

 or two familiar annuals to keep the garden bright all summer. 

 USow seed thickly, and thin out later, before there is any danger of 

 overcrowding. 

 UTo plant tall-growing sorts at the rear. 



The Point of View 



First, annuals may be grown conservatively, the 

 gardener making use simply of those kinds he is familiar 

 with, and merely rearrang 



While 



Orange 



Pink 



and 



Rose 



Red 



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OCTOBER. 



THROUGH LIGHT FROST. 



ing them from season to 

 season. 



Second, they may be 

 grown experimentally; 

 that is the grower may set 

 out to familiarize himself 

 with many newsorts. This 

 can be done by ordering 

 from a seed catalogue al- 

 phabetically, trying all the 

 A's, then all the B's, and 

 so on. From the fruits of 

 such an experiment the 

 gardener can add almost 

 unlimited material to his 

 stock of suitable and use- 

 ful plants. 



Third, he may grow an- 

 nuals in the spirit of scien- 

 tific investigation, setting 

 out to try every known and 

 available variety of one 

 species afteranother. Such 

 an activity can be not only 

 absorbingly interesting, 

 but also of great horti- 

 cultural value worth writ- 

 ing about in The Garden 

 Magazine. 





71 



