Growing Annuals With a Purpose 



By G. H. Sinclair, 



Mich- 

 igan 



THE SURE WAY TO GET THE GREATEST RETURNS FROM THESE 



EASILY GROWN FLOWERS IS TO SELECT THOSE THAT ARE 



EMINENTLY FITTED TO THE PARTICULAR SOIL AND 



LOCATION— LISTS THAT WILL GUIDE THE BEGINNER 



Arclolis grandis is a good all around annual, lasting un- 

 til after the first frosts 



MANY gardeners hold annuals 

 rather in contempt as asking too 

 much work for one season's dis- 

 play. Perennial plants should, 

 of course, be mainly used in building a 

 garden "for keeps"; but to the maker of a 

 new garden, to the frequent mover who can 

 have only a temporary garden, to one who 

 must cover large spaces cheaply, for the 

 main display in children's gardens, for 

 brightness on public playgrounds, to fill 

 in the perennial garden where perennials 

 failed, to sow over bulbs for summer and 

 fall bloom, and for flowers to cut by arm- 

 fuls, annuals are the things. 



Annuals would be oftener used and better 

 loved if more was known about them. So 

 few people, comparatively, know which 

 annuals grow easiest, which should be 

 planted first, which give the most flowers 

 for the least care, what to plant for early 

 bloom or late, or anything about their 

 preferences as to soil and moisture. 



Before choosing your bright packets of 

 annual seed, whether many or few, decide 

 whether you are to grow annuals for garden 

 show or to cut or both. Because some of 

 the best flowers for the house are not 

 showy in the garden while others are 

 excellent in both places. Consider whether 

 you have rich heavy soil or sandy soil, 

 much water for plants or none at all. 

 Decide upon tall plants for the back of 

 your planting, medium size for the middle 

 and low growers at the edge. 



Above all, apply to your planting of 

 annuals the same taste you apply to dress. 

 You wouldn't wear a red waist with a blue 

 skirt, purple sash and yellow hat, though 

 each garment were beautiful of itself? 

 Then why plant red, blue, purple, and 

 yellow flowers together, though each is 



lovely? A garden or border 

 of one color is most satisfying. 

 Suppose, this summer, you 

 have only pink and red annu- 

 als, with white. Another year 

 grow yellow and blue together, 

 with white. At least plant 

 these combinations where your eyes will not 

 compass both plantings at the same time. 

 Another secret from the book of experi- 

 ence — the fewer kinds of annuals you 

 grow in a season and the bigger spaces you 

 fill with each kind, the richer your flowers 

 will look and the easier your work will be. 

 Last summer I saw a city tenant yard 

 that had always been a garbage heap, made 

 lovely with four annuals. A short walk 

 divided the little back yard in halves. In 

 the middle of one grassless plot which had 

 to be all covered, was a huge clump of 

 crimson feathered cockscomb, surrounded 

 by a four-foot plat of sweet alyssum. The 

 plat across the walk had also its great wide 

 circle of sweet alyssum with red four 

 o'clocks in the middle. The yard was tiny 

 and insignificant but the effect was neither. 

 Breadth, rest, taste, were the ideas that 

 struck one with stunning force at sight of 

 these flowers in this grimy place, so strong 

 was the treatment compared to the usual 

 bloomy hash made with annuals. Like any 

 other flowers, annuals look enough better in 

 front of vines to pay for growing vines where 

 one can; and annuals look better and are 

 easier to grow in borders than inshapedbeds. 



Japanese hops will seed themselves for 

 another year. These hops do not trans- 

 plant well but grow fast. Hyacinth bean 

 makes fair shade and has white, extremely 

 fragrant flowers. 



ANNUALS FOR DRY, SUNNY PLACES 



Nasturtiums Marigolds 



Portulaca 



Kochia 



Coreopsis 



Godetia 



Poppies 



California Poppies 



Alyssum 



Bachelor's Buttons 



Petunias 



Larkspurs. 



If a place you want covered is so hot 

 and dry you can scarcely bear your hand 

 on it, portulaca will carpet it with a blaze 

 of glory. Sow portulaca after the ground 

 is thoroughly warm and do not try to 

 transplant it. Never transplant poppies, 

 either. Kochia is called Mexican fire 

 plant — a two-foot, fine-foliaged, tree- 

 looking affair that turns red in the fall. 

 It is fine for dividing lines or clumps in 

 borders. 



BEST ANNUALS FOR CUT FLOWERS 



Asters 



Centaurea 



Annual Pinks 



Cosmos 



Euphorbia 



Arctotis grandis 



Zinnias 



Lavatera 



Stocks 



Coreopsis 



Petunias 



Drummond's Phlox 



Sweet Peas 



Dahlias 



ANNUAL VINES 



Morning Glories 

 Wild Cucumbers 

 Gourds 

 Japanese Hops 



Hyacinth Bean 



(Dolichos) 

 Scarlet Runners 

 Sweet Peas 



Coboea Scandens 



The gourds are best for quick, thick 

 screens. Morning glories, cucumbers, and 



Dahlias are raised from seed so freely 

 now as to be reckoned annuals. Cactus 

 and decorative types are best for garden 

 and house. The seed should be started 

 in the house in March with cosmos and 

 asters. Arctotis grandis or African Daisy 

 is rather new and very valuable. The 

 flowers are large, the centres blue, with 

 petals blue outside, white inside. Eu- 

 phorbia is green and white, about three 

 feet, valuable to mix in vases with bright 

 flowers. Grow a row of carrots to use the 

 feathery leaves for green with flowers. 



m\K 



^^Wi^^^^^ 





■>"• "i -~ ? .£& 





'-^4sJf 





Annual pinks are useful for garden fragrance and also for cutting 

 100 



