IV

ANNUALS

The owner of a garden that is so small that but few plants can be grown in it naturally desires to confine her selection to such kinds as will be likely to give the greatest amount of bloom and require the least amount of care.

At the head of the list it is quite safe to place the sweet-pea. This old and universal favorite blooms profusely and throughout the entire season if prevented from ripening seed. It is beautiful, wonderfully varied as to coloring, and so fragrant that it is almost a rival of the rose in this respect. It requires a treatment so unlike that of ordinary plants that it is really in a class by itself, if one would secure the best results from it. It likes to get a start early in the season and to have its roots deep in the soil, where they will be cool and moist when the hot, dry, midsummer season comes. To gratify this desire on the part of the plant we sow its seed in trenches four or five inches deep, about the middle of April, at the North, or as soon as the ground is free from frost. These trenches are V-shaped, and can easily be made by drawing the corner of a hoe through the soil. Sow the seed quite thickly, and cover with an inch of soil, trampling it down firmly. When the young plants are about three inches tall draw in about them some of the soil thrown out from the trench, and continue to do this from time to time as the plants reach up, until the trench is full. In this way we succeed in getting the roots of the plant deep enough to prevent them from drying out if the season happens to be one of drought. The best support for the sweet-pea is brush. The next best is woven-wire netting with a large mesh.

Another plant that the amateur gardener cannot afford to overlook is the nasturtium. It is a most profuse and constant bloomer. Its colors run through all shades of yellow, orange, and red. It has a delicious spicy fragrance quite unlike that of any other flower I have any knowledge of. Fine for cutting.

The aster must also be given a place in all gardens, large or small, because of its beauty, its wide range of color, and its ease of culture. There are several quite distinct varieties, all good, but none better than the long-stalked "branching" kind. This is the ideal sort for cutting. Its flowers rival those of the chrysanthemum in general effect and lasting quality.

Phlox Drummondii is an old favorite that holds its own against any of the new-comers. So is the verbena, and the calliopsis, and the good old "bachelor's-button," which you will find masquerading in the florists' catalogues as centaurea. It must not be blamed for this, as it has no reason to be ashamed of its old-fashioned name. The seedsmen alone are responsible for the change in nomenclature.

Other stand-bys among the annuals are poppies, larkspur, petunias, ten-week stock, marigolds, scabiosa, mignonette, eschscholtzia (better known as California poppy).

Of course the list of really desirable kinds could be extended almost indefinitely, but I do not think it advisable to make mention of other kinds here, because it is not the part of wisdom for the amateur gardener to attempt growing "a little of everything." It is better to confine one's attention to a few of the kinds with which success is reasonably sure until experience justifies one in undertaking the culture of those which are not so self-reliant and unexacting as the kinds mentioned.

V

VINES

If any one were to ask me to tell him what vine I considered best adapted to amateur culture in all respects, I would decide in favor of the ampelopsis—better known in many localities as Virginia creeper. My decision would be based on the beauty of the vine, its rapid growth, its hardiness, and its ability to furnish its own support on walls of wood, brick, or stone. Its foliage is very pleasing in summer, but it is doubly so in autumn, when its green gives place to a brilliant crimson and a rich maroon. At that season of the year all our flowering vines are eclipsed by its magnificent coloring. It grows well in all kinds of soil—better, of course, in a good one than a poor one—and it will go to the eaves of a three-story house if given an opportunity to do so, and cover every inch of the wall unless special efforts are made to prevent it from doing this. If you do not want your windows hidden under its luxuriance it will be necessary for you to cut away a good many of its branches during the summer.

The Dorothy Perkins rose—one of the rambler class—is a most charming vine when in full bloom, and it has the merit of being quite attractive at other periods, as its foliage is a rich, dark, shining green—something that cannot truthfully be said of some of the other members of this class of roses. It is the only rambler I would advise for use about porches and verandas. It blooms in wonderful profusion. Its flowers are a soft pink, borne in large, loose clusters or sprays. The general habit of the plant is all that could be desired. It is the only member of the rambler class that is really vinelike.

There are two varieties of clematis that I am always glad to speak a good word for. One is the native variety, catalogued as C. flammula. This is a very rampant grower, and well adapted for use wherever a dense shade is desired. It blooms in August. Its flowers are white. They are succeeded by seed with a feathery tail which makes the plant look as if covered with gray smoke. This variety is always greatly admired because of this peculiarity. The other variety that I have a special fondness for is C. paniculata. This is a late bloomer, being in the prime of its flowering period long after the plants in the garden have completed the work of the season. Its flowers are of the purest white. They are small, individually, but they are borne in such profusion that the upper portion of the vine will be completely