120 PLOWEES AXD THE TLOWEE GAEDE^'. 



the second joint, and nip off all the flower huds before 

 they bloom. The second year cut back the side shoots 

 closer, beginning at the bottom, and going up gradually 

 week by week, and continue to train the plant up tall. 

 As the pots get full of root, re-pot the plants, on as far 

 as August, not later. Of course they must be kept from 

 frost in winter. "When they are one year old the stems 

 will get woody, and before they are three years old they 

 will be shrubs, and will bloom well for many years. 



There is a larger flowered mignonette, which is, I 

 believe, only the result of cultivation. 



For hardy annuals we have Venus 's Looking-glass 

 [Specularia speculum), producing its purple flowers in 

 spring and early summer. It likes a rather sandy soil. 



Convolvulus minor produces a good mass of blue in 

 spring, and the Nolanas are similar to it in character, 

 with purple, violet, blue, and white flowers. They will 

 grow in any good garden soil. Calandrinia umhellata 

 grows freely in any garden soil, and produces its crimson 

 flowers, close to the ground, in June, and flowers for a 

 long time. The colour is brilliant, and there are other 

 pretty Calandriniae, growing rather higher, of other 

 colours. The plants will flower earlier if raised in 

 gentle heat, or under a hand glass. Cacalia, scarlet and 

 yellow, are useful plants of free growth. Sow the seed 

 in the borders in April. 



The Calliopsis, or Coreopsis, is a summer-flowering 

 showy annual, the several kinds of which are of various 

 gay colours, and are useful from remaining long in 

 flower, especially if the seed be nipped ofl" as soon 

 as the flower drops. Sow the seed in March, and 

 protect by a turned down garden pot over each clump ; 

 or sow the seed on a hot-bed, and plant out the young 

 plants where they are wanted, when they are lai'ge 

 enough. The difl'erent kinds grow^ from one to three 

 feet high, and they do in a light sandy soil. The 

 seed may be sown in autumn, and will then flower 

 earlier. Some of them are perennials, and they may be 

 increased by division of the root. 



The Callichroa ijlatyrjlossa is hardy, with bright yellow 



