30 BOOK OF THE COTTAGE GARDEN 



of spring. The gardens, neglected as they must be for 

 half the year, cannot be expected to fulfil the expecta- 

 tion of summer beauty unless they are subjected to 

 annual replanting and renovation. For house decora- 

 tion, too, annual flowers are of supreme value; the 

 more they are cut the more freely is bloom produced. 

 And if their true place is in the reserve garden, they are 

 equally welcome in other situations, in beds and borders, 

 as carpeting plants between Roses and flowering shrubs, 

 in the joints and crevices of old walls, by hedgerow and 

 stream-side, anywhere in fact where space can be found 

 to drop a few seeds or root-hold secured for thinnings 

 and spare plants. 



One great advantage of annuals consists in the long 

 period over which they may be induced to flower, 

 following the simple expedient of making successional 

 sowings of most hardy kinds from March onwards until 

 June. But in this we must take into consideration both 

 soil and locality. Late sowings are seldom satisfactory 

 in hot, dry summers, or on land which is light and 

 unretentive of moisture. We must then sow early, 

 that the young plants may have made plenty of root 

 growth before the advent of warm days. In deep, 

 loamy soils which are well drained, both early and late 

 sowings are permissible. The happiest conditions for 

 annuals are found in northern gardens, where there is 

 generally mist and coolness all through the summer 

 months. I have never seen finer flowers than those 

 growing in the Cottage Gardens of the English Lake 

 District ; but there the trying months of July and 

 August are often wet, and the presence of water and 

 morning haze produces just those atmospheric conditions 

 that are ideal for the growth of plants. In the south 

 and in places where summer rainfall is limited, annuals 

 suffer much from the effects of drought, and in ex- 

 ceptionally dry seasons, of which, however, we have 



