If you like plants that aren’t too common, the primrose offers a challenge, for 
in our hot, dry summers it’s often hard to meet the demands for a cool. moist 
atmosphere. Primroses will bring your garden rich colors ranging from deep 
purple through maroon, brilliant blues and pink, to yellow. 
Sow seed of hardy varieties in well-drained pots or flats. Soil should be 2 
parts loam, | part leafmold or peatmoss, 1 part sand. Add 2 ounces of super- 
phosphate to each bushel, and mix well. Sow in January or February, standing 
the pots in a frame where they can freeze. [f snow is available, cover the pots 
with it, put on the sash and cover with a mat to keep out sunshine. Germina- 
tion will be from March on. When large enough, transplant them about 2 
inches apart. 
Delphiniums are garden aristocrats 
Great strides have been made by 
Delphinium growers to produce a 
plant for the American garden that 
will withstand the average condi- 
tions of all America—a wiry stem 
to endure winds, combined with a 
constitution to resist the onslaught 
of insidious diseases. 
Try raising your delphinium from 
a to) NA [ 2 é 
seed sown as soon as ripe in the 
late summer or early fall. Under 
average conditions, these seed will 
give plants that will flower sparsely 
the following summer when you 
can make selections of the desired 
types and the following year, your 
plants give beautiful full blooms. 
For permanent planting, open up 
the earth Z feet deep and allow 2 
feet of space for each planting, 
putting a liberal amount of bal- 
Flowering Time 
Cnallenges 
POP EMDErTS 
anced plant food or old rotted ma- 
nure with the soil in the lower part 
of the hole. 
After setting, tamp well. In heavy 
soils, make the holes deeper and 
put an undertrench of coarse 
gravel. Have plenty of humus in 
the soil that is filled in. Incorporate 
sand with clay soils to prevent 
caking. Set the crowns 2 inches be- 
low the surface and plant in an 
open airy place not too heavily 
shaded and away from tree roots. 
When growth starts in the spring, 
stir the soil around each plant, and 
add a mixture of plant food. 
As the flower stalks develop, tie 
lightly to stakes and after bloom- 
ing cut spikes away to prevent 
seeding. If seed is desired, select 
only one or two good flowers. 
Height 
Plan your garden for continuous bloom—an uninter- 
rupted show of color, from spring to fall. The garden 
need not go dead in August. See the Planting Chart on 
page 18 and design your garden in such a manner that 
you will have an array of color all summer long. The 
winter can be bright with evergreens and berries. 
WINTER 
Flowers should be carefully selected by height, choos- 
ing of course, the tall growers for the back, such as 
Hollyhocks, Cohmos, Delphinium, etc., planted in 
clumps; Phlox, Snapdragons, Centaurea, etc., in the 
middle, with a low growing border of Ageratum, Alys- 
sum, Petunias, and Dwarf Marigolds to the front. 
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