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BECKERT SEED AND BULB COMPANY 



Lovely Flowers from Seed 



WHETHER your 

 taste runs to great 

 masses of brilliant color 

 or artistic plantings of 

 the rarer and more deli- »> 

 cate shades, whether 

 you want blooms to 

 beautify your borders or 

 to cut for vases and table 

 decoration, you will find 

 flower growing intensely in- 

 teresting and delightful, as 

 well as an easy and inexpen- 

 sive recreation. With hundreds 

 of easily grown varieties from 

 which to choose (and many of the 

 lesser known sorts are even more 

 practical and beautiful than the old 

 favorites) there is endless opportunity 

 for creating new effects and discover- 

 ing new beauties. In fact a good half 

 of the fun in gardening comes from try- 

 ing the things you and your neighbors 

 haven't grown before. Generally speaking, 

 flowers are even easier to grow than vege- 

 tables. There is one important difference, 

 however: most flower seeds are quite small 

 and rather slow in sprouting. That means a little 

 more care in preparing the seed bed and sow- 

 ing, and a little more patience in waiting for the 

 seeds to grow. The rest is easy. 



With a few exceptions young flower plants may 

 be transplanted without injury, which makes it con- 

 venient to start the seed in a special seed-bed and later 

 move the seedlings to the places where they are wanted 

 to bloom. Make the seed bed just as fine and mellow 

 and level as you possibly can. Scatter the seed thinly in 

 shallow furrows and cover with a little fine soil. In the 

 case of very small-grained seeds, scatter them right on the 

 surface of the seed-bed and press them into the surface with 



a smooth board. When the seedlings are an inch or two high, or as soon as you can 

 safely distinguish them from weeds, thin or transplant them to prevent crowding. Of 

 course, any of the hardy, larger-seeded flowers may be sown directly in their per- 

 manent places; and, if the seed is scattered sparingly, will require little or no thinning. 



There are three main divisions of garden flowers: Annuals, biennials, and perennials, 

 indicated by the letters, a. b or p respectively, after each sort. Annuals grow, bear 

 flowers and die in one season. Most of our common garden flowers, such as Nasturtiums, 

 are in this class. Biennials require two years to complete their life cycle: sometimes 

 they bloom the first season but usually they do not bloom until the second year. The 

 familiar Hollyhocks, for example, are biennials. The life of perennial flowers is not 

 limited to one or two years but is indefinite. Som.e perennials produce flowers the first 

 season, but most of them do not commence to bloom until the second season after sow- 

 ing. Coreopsis is a well-known perennial. 



In each of these classes there are hardy, half-hardy and tender sorts, indicated by the 

 letters h, hh, and T. Hardy varieties can stand a considerable amount of cold 

 weather; the annuals may be sown outdoors early in the spring, some of them even in 

 March but usually about mid-April, while hardy biennials and perennials require no 

 protection over winter. Half-hardy annuals should not be sown outdoors until soil 

 and weather are warm, generally about May 15th. They will bloom earlier if the seed 

 is started indoors in March or April and the plants set out in the garden late in May. 

 Half-hardy biennials and perennials require a protection of leaves, straw or manure over 

 winter. The tender flowers are primarily subjects for indoor or greenhouse culture, 

 although some of them, notably the Begonias and Geraniums, may be set outdoors in 

 warm weather. 



Perennials and biennials which do not bloom the first season are generally sown in a 

 seed bed in June or early July and transplanted in late summer to the places where they 

 are to bloom the following season. Perennials and biennials which bloom the first 

 season should be sown early, preferably in a box indoors in February or March, and 

 transplanted to the garden late in May. 



The hardy and half-hardy flowers can easily be grown by even the least experienced 

 gardener. Most half-hardy sorts are started in boxes indoors, just like cabbage seed, 

 requiring only a shallow box of fine soil, a sunny window, plenty of moisture and 

 average house temperature. 



A good rule for spacing plants of the ordinary bushy type in the garden, is to set them 

 apart a distance of about half the height they will reach when full grown. For the very 

 tall growing kind a space of 1 ' 2 feet is usually ample. Full directions for growing those 

 rarer plants which require special care will be gladly furnished on request. 



