ON REARING FLOWERS. 



151 



write the colour of annual flowers on the paper in which 

 the seeds are kept, as by this means a proper admixture 

 of colours may be ensured, and no two plants of the same 

 colour will be planted near each other. In the general 

 effect produced by a border or bed of flowers, this feature 

 is of more importance than most persons are aware, and 

 should never be neglected by any individual who con- 

 sults the beauty, in general appearance, of the piece of 

 ground which he may be able to devote to the cultivation 

 of flowers. A proper attention to height is, however, 

 of still greater importance, and in proportion as flower- 

 beds or borders are planted with these two points in view, 

 to the same degree will they be ornamental or unsightly. 



As with perennials, the dead or decaying stems of 

 annuals should be promptly removed. Nothing gives a 

 more littery appearance to a garden than such things ; 

 and, in autumn, they form a sort of nucleus or harbour- 

 age for decayed leaves and insects. 



There is a small class of annuals, with climbing habits, 

 which deserve special notice, and _may be made great 

 ornaments to a garden. The sweet-pea and the larger 

 convolvulus are well-known examples. The varieties of 

 Tropaeolum majus, Tropaeolum canariense, Loasa nitida 

 and alba, and the everlasting pea and Tropaeolum tubero- 

 sum among perennials, are all quite hardy enough to be 

 easily grown, and are exceedingly pretty. The seed may 

 be sown in pots, and the seedlings afterwards planted out, 

 or put at once in the ground, rather more thickly than 

 the plants are wanted, to allow for accidents. A few 

 bushes stuck in the ground around an irregular cluster 

 of plants, leaving the latter to throw themselves over the 

 stakes in a loose or tangled manner, will be the most 

 appropriate way of treating them, especially as the Loasas 

 are armed with such powerful stings as to render it im- 

 prudent to touch them. The convolvulus, however, may 

 be trained to a trelHs, or over a porch, or to the stem of 

 a tree, or amongst a few scarlet runners, as it grows taller 

 than the rest, and requires higher stakes or other support. 

 The Tropaeolum canariense is an elegant plant for grow- 

 ing in pots. 



For decorating the windows of a house, or supplying a 



