PURDY'S PERENNIAL PLANTS AND SHRUBS 31 
WILD FLOWER SEEDS 
California is far-famed for its wild flowers. In former days these could be seen, during 
the spring, in tracts hundreds of miles long; and they still grow profusely on untilled 
lands. Many of our best annuals have long been in cultivation, and are to be found 
listed in all the best seed catalogues throughout the world. Most of these, however, 
have been changed by cultivation so that they are little like the wild flowers. I have 
experimented with many sorts and am olTering those that are most easily grown and most 
effective. Their uses are various, but the first and best use of all is to brighten up the 
corners and wild spots about the home, where water will not reach, or where lack of 
time does not allow well-cared-for-beds. 
Ground under trees, and especially newly broken ground where grading has been 
done, or roads have been made, can be made beautiful by sowing wild flower seeds 
liberally in the fall. All of these flowers are beautiful when planted jn regular beds, like 
common annuals. At summer homes, old and new, throughout the region of our beau- 
tiful mountain and coast resorts, it is especially desirable to sow wild flower seeds 
liberally. 
The Leading Varieties 
For hot gravelly or sandy places, the best of all are Abronias, or "Sand Verbenas." 
These need no water, and bloom profusely all summer, forming a beautiful carpet in lilac, 
with white eye, and yellow. Others are Argemone hispida, a beautiful white poppy; 
CEnothera missouriensis, tall, with large yellow flowers; Pentstemons, which flower 
after the" first year and are very showy; Bartonias, with golden flowers. 
I<"or open places in sim or light shade, there is Calliopsis bicolor, rich in yellow and 
maroon; Clarkia elegans, in medium pink; Clarkia pulchella, in lighter pink; Esch- 
scholtzia maritima, in yellow and orange; Eschscholtzia calif ornica, the immense 
reddish orange California poppy of the great valleys; Lupinus nanus, the best bedder, 
a splendid blue-purple with white markings; Cream Cups, sometimes called Owls' 
Cover, which gives a wonderful mass effect in white or soft pink. 
On hills or rough places, plant Bahia arachnoides, a splendid, hardy, yellow, daisy- 
like flower; all Clarkias; all Godetias; Dicentra chrysantha, a yellow Bleeding Heart; 
Phacelia Parryi, in deep blue ; Viola pedunculata, the much-loved yellow Violet of the South 
In light shades splendid success will be had with CoUinsia bicolor, a fine bedder. 
Spanish Poppy, in coppery red; Clarkias, the exquisite Euchoridium concinnum,; 
especially; Phacelia Parryi, and all the Violets. 
I can supply seeds of all these wild flowers at lo cts. per packet, 12 packets for $1. 
Ounce rates will be cpioted on application. 
Sowing Wild Flower Seeds 
The Time. If the land does not produce a dense growth of grass, sow with or before 
the first fall rains. No raking in of seed is then necessary. If the grass is dense, allow 
the rains to start it, then turn it under by shallow spading, or hoe it off, and rake the 
seeds into the Iresh dirt as early as possible. If the seeds are not in before frosts come, 
they are liable to be lifted out by freezing later. If sowing is not done by December i, 
it had better be left until late February, when it may be done in the same way as in fall. 
Manner of Sowing. Mix a small quantity of seeds with a large bulk of dry dirt or 
dust, and sow this as evenly as possible. It is almost impossible to spread the seed 
thinly enough in any other way. If the coarse grasses are subdued, wild flowers will 
resow themselves, but if the grasses reseed much, it will be necessary to sow the flowers 
every year. Under trees or on rough ground the wild flowers come even too thick, and 
it may help them there to thin by raking, after lhc>' are well established. 
How One Man Did It 
On one large place not far from San Francisco Bay, several acres were sown in wild 
flower seeds in December. The space between a large number of ornamental trees had 
been plowed lo kec|) down the weeds and grass, and the seeds were sown, without any 
