Annuals, and How to Grow Them — Continued. 



The Four-o'clocks (see cut on other page) illustrate this point. 

 Most persons owning this place would think that they had no 

 room for flowers; yet there the Four-o'clocks are, and they take 

 up no 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 you can. 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 a- Scarlet 

 Runners, Sweet: Peas, Convolvuluses, Ipomeas, Nasturtiums, 

 Balloon Vines, Cobaeas. 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 bold 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; African 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 for 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 manv colors. 



A Border of Hardy 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 to 

 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 r.re 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. 



It 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 can 

 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, cold 

 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. Others do 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 in a frame, you would have to give i 

 them all the same treatment. When the seedlings are large J 

 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) 



