Calendars say that Spring begins in March, and in more favored 
spots it does. Here in the north sap begins to rise and garden in- 
terests are reborn. 
It is the serenest time of all the gardener's year. No memory of 
past blows, no prescience of future ills disturbs a tranquil faith in 
nature. 
This is truly the last snow storm, April rains will function with the 
precision of a shower bath, and May flowers bloom buoyantly, un- 
disturbed by frosty nights. Not one of those little green seedlings, 
pricking through the moist black surface of the seed-pans is going to 
damp off. Even the gardener is troubled as to where in the world 
room can be found for so many. And that what is labeled pink should 
bloom purple is unthinkable! So much was done last Autumn that 
this year there can be no Spring rush. The deep snows have surely 
prevented winter-killing, the new method of covering the perennials 
is undoubtedly a success and no field mouse has dared to eat the still 
shrouded roses. 
Happy March, cold but confident : foolish gardener, boastful but 
beguiled! 
Unusual Annuals 
To the average gardener, the word "annuals" means only nas- 
turtiums, larkspurs, marigolds, stocks, petunias, and other old 
favorites with which we have all been familiar since childhood and 
which will probably continue to be popular as long as gardens exist. 
But, besides these, the immense family of annuals includes a goodly 
number of flowers which have never won the recognition their merits 
deserve, which, if we may use such a word, have never "arrived." 
Many of them seem to be unknown to American gardeners, and the 
majority are not listed in American seed catalogues. This is a pity 
because the trial of a few novelties, now and then, adds greatly to the 
pleasure of garden work. 
In my own garden, which is a thoroughly informal one, the plant- 
ing of which I can, and do, change from year to year, I have tried a 
large number of novelties — hardy and tender perennials, bulbs and 
annuals. The word "novelties" is not quite accurate for some, new 
to me and my friends, are so old fashioned that they are no longer 
carried in stock by nurserymen. 
Each year I try a few experiments. Sometimes they are failures, 
but, these, on the whole, have been few, and the successes many. It 
is of the most satisfactory of the unusual annuals that I wish to tell. 
Though some may be quite familiar with many of them, it is in the 
