PREFACE. 
It had long been my intention to publish a series of works, fully describing and illustrating 
in coloured groups, the most ornamental flowers — grown both under glass and in the open air — 
of our British gardens. In the Preface to the first Edition — it was stated that the present 
work — the first of the series — would comprise the hardy and half-hardy annuals ; that the second 
would contain all the hardy and half-hardy bulbs; that these would be followed by the bien- 
nials and perennials ; the greenhouse plants ; the hothouse plants, including the orchidaces! and 
the cacti ; and, lastly, the flowering-trees, with the roses and other ornamental shrubs. 
As each of these works was to be complete in itself, the proprietor of a small town- 
garden, growing annuals or bulbs, might confine his purchase to the volume, or volumes, 
describing the plants he cultivated ; while the possessor of a conservatory or hothouse, would find 
in the volumes treating of their productions, the flowers best adapted to his purpose, and ample 
directions for their culture. Further, each work being arranged according to the natural 
system, the whole series forms a more comprehensive illustration of the different orders than 
has yet been pubUshed. It will, moreover, be useful in affording general ideas concerning the 
arrangement of plants, as well as in facilitating the study of botany. 
It is seldom that an author can accomplish the no easy task of publishing a series of 
volumes. This, however, has happily not been my case. I have already published four of 
