Annuals, and How to Grow Them — Continued. 



Balsams. Annual Pinks, Candytufts, Bachelor's Buttons, Wall- 

 flowers, Larkspurs, Petunias, Gaillardias, Snapdragons, Cocks- 

 combs, Lobelias, Coreopsis or Calliopsis, California Poppies, 

 Four- o' clocks, Sweet Sultans, Phloxes, Mignonettes, Scabiosas, 

 Nasturtiums, Marigolds, China Asters, Salpiglossis, Nicotianas, 

 Pansies, Portulacas, Castor Beans, Poppies, Sunflowers, Verbenas, 

 Stocks, Alyssums, and such good old running plants as Scarlet 

 Runners, Sweet Peas, Convolvuluses, Ipomeas, Nasturtiums, 

 Balloon Vines, Cobseas. Of the annual vines of recent intro- 

 duction, the Japanese Hop has at once taken a prominent place 

 for the covering of fences and arbors. 



For bold mass-displays of color in the rear parts of the grounds 

 or along the borders, some of the 

 coarser species are desirable. My own 

 favorites for such use are: Sunflower 

 and Castor Bean for the back rows; Zin- 

 nias for bright effects in the scarlets and 

 lilacs; African Marigolds for brilliant 

 yellows; Nicotianas for whites. Un- 

 fortunately, we have no robust-grow- 

 ing annuals with good blues. Some 

 of the Larkspurs are perhaps the 

 nearest approach to it. 



For lower-growing and less gross 

 mass-displays, the following are 

 good: California Poppies for oranges 

 and yellows; Sweet Sultans for pur- 

 ples, whites and pale yellows; Pe- 

 tunias for purples, violets and whites; 

 Larkspurs for blues and violets; 

 Bachelor's Buttons (or Cornflowers) 

 for blues; Calliopsis and Coreopsis 

 and Calendulas for yellows; Gail- 

 lardias for red-yellows; China Asters 

 for many colors. 



For still less robustness, good mass- 

 displays can be made with the follow- 

 ing: Alyssums and Candytufts for 

 whites; Phloxes for whites and various 

 pinks and reds; Lobelias and Brow- 



allias for blues; Pinks for whites and various shades of pink; 

 Stocks for whites and reds; Wallflowers for brown-yellows; 

 Verbenas for many colors. 



I should never consider a garden of pleasant annual flowers to 

 be complete that did not contain some of the "everlastings " or 

 immortelles. These " paper flowers " are always interesting to 

 children. The colors are bright, the blooms hold long on the 

 plant, and most of the kinds are very easy to grow. My favorite 

 groups are the different kinds of XeranthemumsandHelichrysums. 

 The Globe Amaranths, with clover-like heads (sometimes known 

 as bachelor's buttons), are good old favorites. Rhodanthes and 

 Acrocliniums are also good and reliable. 



If flowers of any annual are wanted 

 extra early, the seeds should be started 

 indoors. 



A number of the very late-flower- 

 ing annuals should also be started 

 indoors for best success in the northern 

 States, as, for example, the Moon- 

 flowers and the tall-growing kinds of 

 Cosmos. 



In starting plants ahead of the 

 season, be careful not to use too deep 

 boxes. The gardener's "flat" may 

 be taken as a suggestion. Three 

 inches of earth is sufficient, and in 

 some cases (as when the plants 

 are started late) half this depth is 

 enough. 



Of late years there has been a 

 strong movement to introduce the 

 hardy perennials into general culti- 

 vation. This is certainly to be encour- 

 aged everywhere, since it adds a 

 feeling cf permanency and purpose- 

 fulness that is needed in American 

 gardens. Yet I should be sorry if 

 this movement were to obscure the 

 importance of the annuals. 



A Eokder < f Hardy Perennials. 



Raising Hardy Perennials from Seed. 



Written expressly for this book by 



Hardy perennials are easily grown from seed. In many cases 

 they are a little slower than annuals, but with intelligent care 

 they are successfully raised, and from seed is an excellent way 

 to get up a big stock of perennials in a short time. Many peren- 

 nials, if sown in Spring, bloom the first year from seed as freely 

 as annuals; for instance, Gaillardias, Iceland Poppies, Chinese 

 Larkspur, Lychnis, Shasta Daisy, Platycodon, etc. Others wait 

 a year; that is, if sown this year they don't bloom until next 

 year. These include Cardinal Flower, Golden Alyssum, Campan- 

 ula, Pyrethrum, Columbines, Gypsophila, Polyanthus, Fox- 

 gloves, Lythrum, Physostegia, etc. There is no rigid rule in 

 this. It often happens that Hollyhocks, Delphiniums, Grass 

 Pinks and others, if sown early in the season, bloom fairly well 

 before the end of the first summer. 



The seeds may be sown in spring or in summer. In spring 

 the sowings may be made in the window, the hot bed, the cold 

 frame, the greenhouse or in the open ground out of doors. In 

 the window prepare pots or flower-pans or small, shallow 

 wooden boxes or flats; fill to one-third their depth with fine 

 broken cinders or broken pots, and over this place a thin layer 

 of moss, chopped straw or rough siftings from the soil to keep 

 the dirt from clogging the drainage; then fill up to within one- 

 half or three-quarter inches of the brim with fine, free, mellow 

 soil, with a thin layer of very fine soil over it. Tamp the pot 

 on table to firm the soil a little. Now sow the seed evenly, and 

 shake a very little fine soil over it; press it all over with the back 

 of the hand or a board, then water gently through a fine spray 

 or rose; this done, strew a little fine earth over all. In the case 

 of very fine seeds covering only enough to hide the seed is plenty, 

 but Pinks; Gaillardias and other rougher seeded sorts one-eighth 

 inch deep of covering may be given. Keep the seed pots in a 

 warm, sunny window, but shaded with a thin curtain from drying 

 sunshine. A sheet of paper laid over the pot at this time pre- 

 vents over-drying, but when the sunshine passes, take off the 

 paper, else damp or mould will set in. A pane of glass laid 

 over the pots or flats until germination appears is an excellent 



Mr. Wm. Falconer, of Pittsburg. 



preservative of the moisture in the soil, but always tilt it up at 

 one side one-eighth of an inch or more. When the seedlings 

 come up, give them more light by keeping them close to the 

 glass, and before they overcrowd one another or become spindly 

 transplant them into other pots or flats, three-quarters or one 

 inch apart from one another, according to their size and strength. 

 As the weather gets mild, by placing the seedlings in a cool 

 and airier place, as on the porch or a sheltered place out of 

 doors, they become fairly inured to the open weather, and when 

 they are large enough for final transplanting set them out in the 

 garden. 



The amateur may have more success and less bother growing 

 "hardy perennials from seeds sown in the open ground than in 

 any other way. Prepare a bed in a nice, warm, sheltered spot 

 in the garden, preferably not very sunny; let the surface of the 

 bed be raised four or five inches above the general level, and the 

 soil be a mellow, free, fine earth on the surface. Draw shallow 

 rows across the surface of the bed, three to four inches apart, 

 and here sow the seed, keeping the varieties of one kind or 

 nature as much together as practicable; cover the seeds thinly, 

 press the whole surface gently, water moderately, then dust a 

 little fine, loose soil over all. If the weather is sunny or windy, 

 shade with papers or a few branches, but remove these in the 

 evening. When the seedlings come up thin them out to stiffen 

 those that are left, and when they are two to three inches high, 

 they are fit for transplanting into permanent quarters. All this 

 should be done in early spring, say March, April or May, or in 

 warmer localities a month earlier. 



Again, in July or August perennials are very easily raised out 

 of doors, and much in the same way as above. Observe how 

 seedlings spring up in July or August in thousands around old 

 plants of perennial Larkspur, Coreopsis, Hollyhocks and Fox- 

 gloves. The same holds good with artificially sown seeds; care- 

 fully note somewhat similar conditions. Transplant these seed- 

 lings in late August or early September to get well-rooted stocky 

 plants before winter sets in. 



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