ii INTRODUCTION. 
these works they are mixed up with greenhouse and hothouse plants and shrubs, which, of course, the 
mere grower of annuals can feel little interest in ; so that a person wishing to get coloured figures and 
botanical descriptions of all the finest annual flowers, must now purchase plates and descriptions of 
himdi'eds of other flowers that he has no need of. 
The culture of annuals has two great advantages over the culture of all other flowers whatever. In 
the first place, it is attended with less expense than any other description of flower culture ; and in the 
seoind, all the enjoyment of which it is susceptible is obtained within the compass of six or eight months. 
Bulbous or tuberous-rooted flowers, like annuals, produce their blossoms in the first year ; but they are 
attended with an enormously increased expense. Perennial herbaceous flowers are never in perfection 
till the second year ; and, like bulbs, can only be beneficially purchased by such as anticipate retaining 
the occupation of their garden for several years in succession. The seeds of annual flowers, on the other 
hand, cost a mere trifle ; and the expense of stirring the soil, sowing them, and thinning them when 
they come up, is also very little ; while the effect produced is as great or greater than that of many 
bulbs or tubers, and most perennials. The flower of a choice hyacinth, the bulb of which will cost five 
or six shillings before planting, is not much more beautiful than that of a double rocket larkspur, which 
may be reared to perfection in three months, from a seed which will cost about the fiftieth part of a 
penny. Annual flowers therefore are, above all others, suitable for the gardens of suburban residences 
which are hired for not more than a year ; while they are equally fit for decorating all other gardens 
whatever, and peculiarly so for such as are defective in soil, situation, or exposure to the sun, as is amply 
shown in the Villa Gardener. 
Mr. Paxton, the chief manager of the gardens of His Grace the Duke of Devonshire, in an early 
Number of his excellent Magazine of Botany, observes, " Considered as the principal ornaments of the 
flower-garden throughout the most delightful period of the year, and during a considerable portion of 
it as the most interesting features in the greenhouse, annual plants have great claims to our attention, 
and should be very extensively cultivated in every pleasure-garden. But the vast number and variety 
of sorts that are now known in our collections, the whole of which it is almost impossible to introduce 
into even the most extensive gardens, renders necessary a judicious selection of the best kinds, in order 
to compensate for any deficiency in number or variety, by the superior beauty of those which are 
admitted." 
Such a selection it is my object to offer to the public in the following pages. I shall endeavour to 
comprise in it all the ornamental annuals that the best judges whom I have consulted on the subject 
think really deserving of culture in a flower-garden ; and as my descriptions will be illustrated by 
plates by an able artist, lithographed and coloured from nature, the grower of annuals, by turning 
over this volume, may be enabled to select those which appear most suitable for his particular purpose. 
