e 
Annuals, and How to Grow Them 
By Prof. L. H. Bailey, 
Cornell University. 
The following is an extract from an article which appeared in Country Life in America some years ago. 
Annual plants are those that you must sow every year. The 
staid perennials I want for the main and permanent effects in 
my garden, but I could no more do without annuals than I 
could do without the spices and the condiments at the table. 
Of the kinds of annuals there is almost no end. This does not 
mean that all are equally good. For myself I like to make the 
bold effects with a few of the old profuse and reliable kinds. I 
like whole masses and clouds of them. Then the other kinds I 
like to grow in smaller areas at one side, in a half experimental 
way. There is no need of trying to grow equal quantities of all. 
For the main and bold effects I want something that I can 
depend on. There I do not want to experiment. Never fill a 
conspicuous place with a kind of plant you have never grown. 
The kinds I like best are the ones easiest to grow. Zinnia, 
Petunia, Marigold, Four O’Clock, Sunflower, Phlox, Scabiosa, 
Sweet Sultan, Bachelor’s Button, Verbena, Calendula, Calliopsis, 
Morning-glory, Nasturtium, Sweet Pea,—these are some of the 
kinds that are surest. I do not know where the investment of 
five cents will bring as great reward as in a packet of seeds of 
any of these plants. 
Make the soil rich and fine and soft and deep, just as you 
would for radishes or onions. There are some plants for which 
the soil can be made too rich, of course, but most persons do not 
err in this direction. The finer and more broken down the 
manure the better. Spade it in. Mix it thoroughly with the 
soil. If the soil is clay-like, see that fine manure is thoroughly 
mixed with the surface layer to prevent ‘‘ baking.” 
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- 
flower, Larkspurs, Petunias, Gaillardias, Snapdragons, Cocks- 
combs, Lobelias, Coreopsis or Calliopsis, California Poppies, 
Four O’Clock, Sweet Sultans, Phloxes, Mignonettes, Scabiosas, 
Nasturtiums, Marigolds, China Asters, Salpiglossis, Nicotianas. 
Pansies, Portulacas, Castor Beans, Poppies, Sunflowers, Ver- 
benas, Stocks, Alyssums, and such good old running plants as 
Scarlet Runners, Sweet Peas, Convolvuluses, Ipomeas, Nastur- 
tiums, Balloon Vines, Cobzeas, etc. 
For bold mass-displays of color in the rear parts of the 
grounds or along the borders, some of the coarser species are 
desirable. 
Castor Bean for the back rows; Zinnias for bright effects in the 
scarlets and lilacs; African Marigolds for brilliant yellows; Nico- 
My own favorites for such use are: Sunflower and 
tianas for whites; Larkspurs for blues. 
For lower-growing and less gross mass-displays, the following 
are good: California Poppies for oranges and yellows; Sweet 
Sultans for purples, whites and pale yellows; Petunias for pur- 
ples, violets and whites; Bachelor’s Buttons (or Cornflowers) 
for Blues; Calliopsis and Coreopsis and Calendulas for yellows; 
Gaillardias for red-yellows; China Asters for many colors. 
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. 
If flowers of any annual are wanted extra early, the seeds 
should be started 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. 
Of late years there has been a strong movement to introduce 
the hardy perennials into general cultivation. This is certainly 
to be encouraged everywhere, since it adds a feeling of perma- 
nancy and purposefulness thatis needed in American gardens. 
Yet I should be sorry if this movement were ‘o obscure the im- 
portance of the annuals. 
Raising Hardy Perennials from Seed 
Written expressly for this book by Mr. Wm, Falconer, of Pittsburgh. 
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 per- 
ennials, if sown in spring, bloom the first year from seed as 
freely as annuals. Others wait a year; that is, if sown this year 
they don’t bloom until next year. 
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 tbe drainage; then fill up until within one- 
half or three-quarters inches of the brim with fine, free, mellow 
soil, with 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 prevents over-drying, but when the sunshine passes, 
take off the paper, else damp or mold will setin. A pane of 
glass laid over the pots or flats until germination appears is an 
excellent preservative of the moisture in the soil, but always tilt 
it up at one side one-eighth of an inch or more. When the 
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seedings 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 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, 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. Transplant 
these seedlings in late August or early September to get well- 
rooted stocky plants before winter sets in. 
