The little wild Wind Flowers are easily colonized in a hardy border.
Annuals. The annual flowers of the seedsmen are those which give their best bloom in the very year in which the seeds are sown. True annuals are those plants which complete their entire life-cycle in one season. Some of the so-called annual flowers will continue to bloom the second and third years, but the bloom is so poor and sparse after the first season that it does not pay to keep them.
Most annuals will bloom in central New York if the seeds are sown in the open ground when the weather becomes thoroughly settled. But there are some kinds, as Cosmos and Moonflowers, for which our season is commonly too short to give good bloom. These kinds may be started early in the house or in hotbeds; and similar treatment may be given any plants of which it is desired to secure blooms before the normal time.
A box garden
Prepare the ground thoroughly and deep. Annuals must make a quick growth. See that the soil contains enough humus or vegetable mold to make it rich and to enable it to hold moisture. If the ground is not naturally rich, spade in well-rotted manure or mold from the woods. A little commercial fertilizer may help in starting off the plants quickly. Prepare the land as early in spring as it is in fit condition, and prevent evaporation by keeping the surface loose by means of raking.
If the flowers are to be grown about the edges of the lawn, make sure that the grass roots do not run underneath them and rob them of food and moisture. It is well to run a sharp spade deep into the ground about the edges of the bed every two or three weeks for the purpose of cutting off any grass roots which may have run into the bed. If beds are made in the turf, see that they are 3 ft. or more wide, so that the grass roots will not undermine them. Against the shrub borders, this precaution may not be necessary. In fact, it is desirable that the flowers fill all the space between the overhanging branches and the sod.
Flowers against a border
Sow the seeds freely. Many will not germinate. Even if they do all germinate, the combined strength of the rising plantlets will break the crust on the hard soils; and in the thinning which follows, only strong and promising plants are allowed to remain. Better effects are also often secured when the colors are in masses, especially if the flowers are thrown into the bays of heavy shrub borders.