The Garden Magazine, January, 1921 
251 
Scarlet Beauty, Firefly, and some of the unnamed salmon, purple, 
and pink shades, not to mention pure white, are a sight not soon 
to be forgotten. To produce these four-footers, as thickly 
studded with blossoms as a Flowering-almond bush, for May 
bloom, the seed should be planted in September. Grow the 
seedlings slowly, with only a little heat, and pinch back to six 
inches and again to nine in order to get a bushy growth — which 
should be allowed room for a four-foot expansion. Plenty of 
space is also needed for showing off the flowering plants, as the 
long branches are too graceful for very close massing. The 
pulchella type comes in both pink and white, and double and 
single. What is known as the dwarf kind is quite compact and 
thus extremely good for greenhouse massing. All the Clarkias 
are fine for cutting. 
Another almost forgotten Annual is Nemophila. The 
particular kind that caught my fancy was N. atomaria atro- 
caerulea Blue Bell. This deep blue flower, the white eye 
surrounded by small black spots, is really charming when 
potted. Nemophilas have a height of only four to six inches 
and are for dainty rather than showy effects. There are at 
least three good blue varieties to choose from, beside purple, 
lilac, and white ones. 
Strawflowers were another old Annual which 1 especially 
noticed. One kind that masses extremely well is Rhodanthe 
Manglesii, in both pink and white. 1 also saw the double 
Acroclinium album and A. roseum used similarly. Straw- 
flowers sound stiff for indoor use, but somehow they seemed to 
fit in very well. No doubt Helichrysum, the showiest of all the 
everlastings, which we do sometimes see in our gardens, would 
be even better in pots. The colors, in the choice varieties, are 
really beautiful. Indoors they would have also an opportunity 
to attain to full perfection; which usually is not their lot in the 
open, as the seed must be planted early under glass to get 
ahead of Jack Frost. Xeranthemum annuum album, which 
continues in bloom a long time, also ought to be worth a trial. 
Of the somewhat newer Annuals one, at least, is not likely to 
be grown to full advantage excepting under glass. This is 
Nemesia, a newcomer from South Africa of uncommon beauty 
and variety of color. 1 have given it a good trial out of doors 
and have studied it in other gardens, but nowhere have 1 seen a 
Tall Nasturtiums 
trailing over the 
greenhouse frame- 
work 
Nemesia, pot grown, 
as seen at the spring 
flower shows 
plant worth mentioning in the same breath with a fine pot- 
grown specimen. Instead of garden scraggliness, there develops 
a symmetrical plant that is one solid mass of scarlet, crimson, 
rose, orange, lemon, sky blue, or white. A single plant, small 
though it be, is in itself an arresting sight. I like the dwarf 
compact Nemesia for the solid sheet of color that it gives the 
greenhouse bench when massed, but there is greater grace to the 
slightly taller type, the flower heads of which stand out with 
more or less individuality. Single blossoms of this type are 
often an inch across. The blue Nemesia is the daintiest of all. 
Use with it the white or one of the yellow varieties. Seed of 
the Nemesia should be sowed with little heat. Allow about 
four months from the time of sowing for full bloom. And 
plant only the best seed obtainable. 
My observation of Schizanthus has been the same as in the 
case of Nemesia; the really worth while plants were grown in 
pots under glass and indeed they have been conspicuous features 
of some of the recent big flower shows in New York. But I can 
in truth safely say that I never really saw this lovely Annual, 
sometimes called “poor man’s Orchid,” until I ran across it in 
the King’s conservatories at Frogmore, in the winter garden of 
Witley Court, and at the London International flower show. 
Each time the myriads of floral butterflies gave startling proof 
of the plant’s great possibilities when properly encouraged. 
These, in the first two instances, ran up to a height of three feet 
while in the last mentioned display the compact type, only 
about a foot high, was represented as well. The wisetonensis, 
pinnatus, and retusus types are all good for pot culture. For 
cutting, use the large-flowered strain; the blossoms are quite 
like little Orchids. As a rule the pink and white kinds are best 
indoors. There is a very good mauve, with a paler centre, but 
the muddy purple and near-magenta shades are poor mixers. 
Sow Schizanthus seed in September for early bloom and at the 
end of January for late bloom. 
Cockscomb, a good old fashioned Annual that is a stranger to 
most modern gardens, is an excellent summer filler in the green- 
house or the conservatory living-room. By far the most 
decorative kind is Celosia plumosa, especially in some of the 
finer yellow shades. When plants are developed to perfection, 
they will produce veritable cascades of color. But there is much 
