Annuals, and How to Grow Them—Conténued. 
The Four-o’clocks (see cut opposite page) illustrate this point. 
Most persons owning this place would think that they had no 
toom for flowers; yet there the Four-o’clocks are, and they take 
up po room. Not all annuals will thrive under such conditions 
of partial neglect. The large-seeded, quick-germinating, rapid- 
growing kinds will do best. Sunflower, Sweet Pea, Morning 
Glory, Japanese Hop, Zinnia, Marigold, Amaranths, are some of 
the kinds that may be expected to hold their own. If the effort 
is made to grow plants in such places, it is important to give them 
all the advantage possible early in the season, so that they will 
get well ahead of the grass and weeds. Spade up the ground 
all youcan. Add a little quick-acting fertilizer. It is best to 
start the plants in pots or small boxes, so that they will be in 
advance of the weeds when they are set out. . 
First and last, I have grown practically every annual offered 
in the American trade. It is surprising how few of the uncom- 
mon or little-known sorts really have great merit for general pur- 
poses. There is nothing yet to take the place of the old-time 
groups, such as Amaranths, Zinnias, Calendulas, Daturas, 
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, Cobzeas. Of the annual 
vines of recent introduction, the Jap- 
anese Hop has at once taken a prom- 
inent place for the covering of fences 
and arbors, although it has no floral 
beauty. to recommend it. 
For bokd mass-displays of color in 
the rear parts of the grounds or along 
the borders, some of the coarser spe- 
cies are desirable. My own favorites 
for such use are: Sunflower and Cas- 
tor Bean for the back rows; Zinnias 
for bright effects in ‘the scarlets and 
lilacs; Afrfcan 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 fof 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. 
A Borper oF Harpy PERENNIALS. 
For still less robustness, good mass-displays can be made with 
the following: Alyssums and Candytufts for whites; Phloxes for 
whites and various pinks and reds; Lobelias and Browallias 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 te 
be complete that did not contain some of the ‘‘everlastings’’ or 
immortelles. These ‘‘ paper flowers’’ are always interesting to 
children. I do not care for them for the making of ‘dry- 
bouquets,’”? but for their interest as a part of a garden. 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 Xeranthemums and Helichrysums. The Globe 
Amaranths, with clover-like heads (sometimes known as bach 
elor’s buttons), are good old favorites. Rhodanthes and Acroc 
liniums are also good and reliable. 
Some of the perennials and biennials can be treated as annuals 
if they are started very early indoors. A number of the very 
late-flowering annuals should also be started indoors for best 
success in the northern States, as, for example, the Moonflowers 
and the tall-growing kinds of Cosmos. 
If flowers of any annual are wanted extra early, the seeds 
should be started indoors. It is not necessary to have a green- 
house for this purpose, although best results are to be expected 
with such a building. The seeds may be sown in boxes, and 
these boxes then placed in a sheltered position on the warm side 
of a building. At night they car 
be covered with boards or matting. 
In very cold ‘spells’? the boxes 
should be brought inside. In this 
simple way seeds may often be started 
one to three weeks ahead of the time 
when they can be sown in the open 
garden. Moreover, the. plants are 
likely to receive better care in these 
boxes, and, therefore, to grow more 
rapidly. . Of course, if still earlier re 
sults are desired, the seeds should 
be sown in the kitchen, hotbed, colé 
frame, or in a greenhouse. 
In starting plants ahead of the sea 
son, 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 
encouraged everywhere, since it adds 
a feeling of 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. 
Raising Hardy Perennials from Seed. 
Written expressly for this book by Mr. Wm. Falconer, of Pittsburg. 
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. Many sorts, if sown 
In spring, bloom the first year from seeds as early as annuals; 
for instance: Gaillardia, Iceland Poppies, Chinese Larkspur, 
Platycodon, etc., etc. Othersdo not bloom until the second year. 
The amateur may have more success and less bother growing 
perennials from seed sown in the open ground than from 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, fine earth on the surface. Draw shallow 
rows across the surface of the bed three or four inches apart, 
and here sow the seeds, keeping the varieties of one kind or 
nature as much together as practicable, covering the seeds 
thinly; press the whole surface gently, water moderately, then 
dust a little fine loose scil 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 or three inches 
high they are fit for transplanting into permanent quarters. 
All this should be done in early spring, say March, April or 
May. Again, in July or August perennials are very easily 
raised out-of-doors, and much in the same way as above. Or 
they may be sown in early spring indoors, in the window, the 
hot-bed, the cold frame or the greenhouse, preferably in boxes 
or pans, as described for growing annuals on page 62. Some 
gardeners sow seed right in the cold-frame. I have tried both 
ways, and find the boxes best, as the different varieties of seeds 
do not come up at the same time, and you can remove them 
from the close frame to more airy quarters as soon as the seed 
comes up, whereas, if sown ina frame, you would have to give 
them all the same treatment. When the seedlings are large 
enough I transplant them into other boxes, and put them into a 
shady part of the garden, but not under the shade of trees, as 
there they will draw too much. About the 15th of September 
plant them in the garden where they are to bloom, or if the 
garden is full of summer-flowering plants put them in beds in 
the vegetable garden, to be planted out in the early spring, and 
give them a light covering of straw or manure to keep sudden 
changes of the weather away from them. 
(53) 
name> \ 
