Ten Annuals for ThisYear’s 
Garden 
AN ATTRACTIVE PLAN FOR A GARDEN USING 
ONLY TEN VARIETIES—THE PLANTING AND 
CARE THAT MAKES FOR THE BEST RESULTS 
Photographs by Nathan R. Graves and Charles Jones 
Verbena 
\A 7 AITING patiently in 
* * their neat packets in 
the seed basket to be given 
their chance — what should 
we do without annuals ? 
For, of course, nobody ever wants 
actually to finish the garden; to 
get it all done, like the historic old 
town down south where not a nail 
has been driven since the war. Just 
fancy what such a garden would be 
like! It is too dreadful to contemplate. 
No indeed; variety is as desirable a 
condiment in gardening as in any 
other phase of life, even though 
the garden itself in its layout and 
general scheme is complete. 
Too much variety, however, is as 
disconcerting as too little is dispiriting; 
so this year I made a resolution, when 
the first catalogue came in —and if it 
works out satisfactorily, it is going to be 
written down in the Book of Garden 
Laws. Here it is: The garden shall have ten annuals, and 
only ten—as unlike each other as possible, and perhaps every 
one shall be different from any that the garden has ever en¬ 
tertained before. Certainly some of them shall; and one at 
least must be a new variety — or as new as the season offers. 
This is really a broad, elastic resolution — one that does not 
hamper in the least and that provides pleasurable anticipation. 
Here is what I am using: For the season’s novelty, which has 
been given space enough to try it well, there is the new Shirley 
poppy, “Celeste" — a lovely, pallid ghost, in gray, sky-blue and 
lavender tones. That I am a bit sceptical of this flower only 
makes the anticipation the more keen. In combination with 
gray nothing is as lovely as the purest, palest yellow; so, on 
the chance that the poppies may show this promised tone, they 
are backed with a 
row of the pure yel¬ 
low snapdragon, 
Golden Queen. It will 
not be a bad combina¬ 
tion even if the gray 
should turn out to be 
only lavender. 
For the rest, there 
is the African daisy 
— Arctotis grandis — 
with its great, white, 
starry flowers, tinted 
with pale bluish 
mauve on their backs ; 
the pretty Clarkia in a 
^salmon pink form for a partly shady place; quantities of double 
pinks in three varieties — a pure white, a crimson and an almost 
black crimson that shows a white line around the edges, like rich 
velvet edged with ermine; California poppies in yellow shades 
only, ranged in front of a line of double stock-flowered annual 
larkspur; red and white lupines in another place that does not 
get the full sun; Xeranthemums in a group at one corner, and 
finally, a mass of verbena, a white and clear blue variety, making 
up the required number of ten. Enclosing the entire space where 
UaVuY 
. :<M VX 
California poppies demand nearly the care of 
The seeds may be sown early. Golden 
! A 
i 1 
bs {• ! 
1, Papaver Celeste; 2, Antirrhinum, giant yellow, snapdragon; 3, Arcto¬ 
tis grandis, African daisy; 4, Clarkia, Salmon queen; 5, Dianthus 
(annual). Snowball, Fireball and Morning Cloak; 6, Eschsholzia 
Californica, California poppy; 7, Delphinium (annual). Sky Blue; 
8, Lupinus (annual), rose and white; 9, Xeranthemum annuum, ever¬ 
lasting, and 10, Verbena, blue and white 
the annuals grow there is always a trim little hedge of rosemary, 
sweet-flavored and useful —a paradise for the bees. This, of 
course, is in its accustomed place. All walks are turf and the 
beds are cut down about two inches below the surface. 
Of course, nothing is to be expected of the garden of annuals 
much before the end of June; therefore it should not be located 
where its barren earth will be aggressively within sight during 
the preceding weeks. The edging of rosemary helps to minimize 
the barrenness, however, and in localities where this will endure, 
I know of no more 
delightful treatment 
for garden beds than 
such a hedge, whether 
the walks are of grass 
or gravel. Common 
mint may be used in 
place of rosemary, 
where it is not hardy, 
and this furnishes a 
pleasant and effective 
substitute, if trimmed 
well and kept within 
bounds. 
Annuals happily 
will grow practically 
oriental sorts and are averse to transplanting. 
West is a good variety for the garden 
