Mat 11. 1912. 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



377 



GARDENS OF ANNUALS. 



Grow hardy annuals as well as they can 

 be grown, and no flowers outrival them. 

 It is because we are all used to seeing over- 

 crowded patches of godetias, salpiglossis, 

 calendulas, clarkias, Shirley poppies, and 

 candytufts, that we have come to look upon 

 them with slight favour. Take Godetia 

 The Bride as an example ; the plants will 

 be more than 2ft. tall, of shrubby branching 

 habit, the long leaves fine, the white, crim- 

 son-blotched flowers enormous, of silken tex- 



ture. 



seedlings have been pinched 



out once, and each plant has 18in. of space 

 in which to develop . 



A splendid garden may be created with- 

 out a perennial, shrub, or rose tree in it ; 

 giant sunflowers, hybrid mulleins, and Ver- 

 bascum phceniceum will supply the shrub- 

 beries, and an undergrowth can be pro- 

 vided by the lesser sunflowers and the 

 feathery green Artemesia annua, which be- 

 comes covered with a golden florescence. 

 For other tall masses there are the giant 

 double poppies, so beautiful in their shades 

 of blush^ cerise, and mauve, in addition to 

 more ordinary tints. Annual lupins, blue, 

 white, or rose, can be had 25ft. high, car- 

 peted around by the little perfumed blue 

 and white Lupinus nanus. 



Some gardeners are of opinion that lawn 

 beds require sub-tropical plants in order 

 that they may produce a handsome effect, 

 but the idea is erroneous. The varieties of 

 maize or zea, offer just as fine displays as 

 can be gained, from delicate subjects, which 

 cold winds often shrivel, and rain followed 

 by hot sunshine, often scorch. Begonias 

 are sucoesfully rivalled by a new variety 

 of dianthus named Lucifer. The fringed 

 flowers of this hardy annual are an extra- 



measur- 



To 



ordinarily bright orange-scarlet, 

 ing 2in. individually from tip to tip 

 i^ure a unique l>ed it 

 alternated 



should 

 linifolia 



annual 



be 

 a 

 of 



unique 



with Omphalodes 

 i^ilver-leaved white-blooming 

 wonderful charm. 



Other lawn beds may glow orange with 

 the new Eschscholtzia gorgeous, though the 

 < rimson-and-gold Mandarin is hard to beat. 

 AMiile a vestige of summer lasts the plants, 

 uith their fernlike gray foliage, will pro- 

 duce fields of flowers, indifferent to scorch- 

 ing drought, undeterred by seasons of flood. 

 To see the full elegance of the eschscholtzia, 

 seedlings should be thinned out till they 

 stand a foot apart, then the leaves will 

 spread gracefully over the soil uncrushed 

 by any neighbour. 



Rosy larkspurs, in a lawn bed, offer a 

 colour that is only approached by cerise 



salpiglossis or some dahlias. The yield of 

 bloom, too, is enormo"K nn^l +liorri will Ti^f 



be any cessation if 

 vented. 



seed 



. Pillars of climbing nasturtiums should be 

 included in the garden of annuals. The 

 rougher the wootl the better, as the tendrils 

 cung readily to excrescences of bark. Silver 

 otrch trunks, with the bark left on, have 

 the oveliest effect of all. It should be 

 lecoiiected that climbing nasturtiums need 

 not be of mixed colours, though the varie- 

 gated-leaved strain should be employed for 

 some trellises or fences ; scarlet, crimson, 



-^'j cream can be 



ootained separately, or the attractively 

 spotte^I kinds. Climbing convolvuluses or 

 'Pom^as may be employed in the same stvle, 

 ""in, on a<count of their dense foliage, 

 are supremely useful for training up 

 "^r.ngs to hide unsightly walls or fences 



th 



ev 



hi 



^ay be sown 



in rose, carmme 



ped, crimson, lilac, or 

 value of the dwarf Con 



not be overlooked. For 



"TO the variety Rose Queen ha.<4 a np.rf 



appearance, or a beautiful show may 

 gained from the white form alternated with 

 Calendula Prince of Orange. 



Shade in the annual garden is not diffi- 

 cxilt to cater for. The red-rose or the white 

 Centranthus macrosiphon will be Found as 

 willing to thrive as the taller pink or whit-e 

 Lavatera trimestris, and both plants pos- 

 sess those vivid grass-green leaves that do 

 so much to brighten shadowed stret-ches of 

 ground. A bed of either of these can be 

 given a seed-scattered carpet of the tiny 

 lilac annual lonopsidium acaule, which will 

 not thrive in hofr'simshine. Silene pendula 

 compacta, rose, crimson, or white, calen- 

 dulas, common white candytuft, tall blue, 



be 



PRUNUS PERSICA • 



VAR. MAGNIFICA. 



The various double-flowered forms of the 

 peach (Prunus persica) are well worth 

 attention when selecting dwarf trees for 

 gardens situated in the Midlands and 

 Southern Counties^ for they are very showy, 

 and last in flower for a long while. Pink, 

 white, and red-flowered varieties are to be 

 had, but the red ones are perhaps the most 

 ornamental, while they have the advan- 

 tage of adding a rich touch of colouring 

 to the garden, and aff^ording a beautiful 

 contrast to the groundwork of yellow and 



■■ r 



ITiis splendid May-flowering 

 much below natural size. 



TULIP GRENADIER, 

 tidip is rich orange-scarlet, with yellow base. Flowers 

 A.M., R.H.S., April 30. Messrs. Walter T. Ware, Lim., 



Inglescombe, Bath. 



pink, white, or maroon cornflowers may also 



be safely used. 



Especially showy annuals, owing to then- 

 colours, are the carmine candytuft, the 

 terra-cotta-crinison Calliopsis bicolor nigra, 

 or the dwarf Crimson King, Clarkia ele- 

 gans Purple King, Godetia Lady Satin 

 Rose, and the dazzling scarlet Tulip Poppy. 

 One great merit of the annual garden is 

 that it can be entirely cleared each autumn 

 bulbs be used for the spring display, and 

 these removed in time for another season s 

 exhibition of what the hardy annual can 

 achieve when reverently cultivated and 

 carefully chosen. M. H. 



white narcissi, which blossom at the same 

 time. Two re<l-flowereil forms are in ad- 

 vance of others ; they are P. persica fl. 

 rubro pL, and P. persica var. magnifica, 

 the latter, perhaps, being the more showy 

 of the two. Anyone who possesses a few 

 plum stocks may raise a stock of this and 

 other varietit^ by bu<l<ling them in the 

 ordinary w^ay in July. Three yi-ars after 

 budding, really good, well-flower <m1 twos 

 may be obtained, which will be found uso- 

 fuf for garden planting or for plaeiii^ in 

 pots to use for greenhouse devi ation <lnr- 

 ing the months of January, February, and 

 March. 



4 



