Don't start dahlias into growth in the house early in the season, thinking that you are going to "get the start of the season" by so doing. We used to think that, because the dahlia came from a country where the summer was long, we must get it to growing in March or April, and we set the tubers out in pots and boxes and forced them to make a rapid and weak growth so early in the season that long before it was safe to put them out in the garden they were poor, spindling things, with just enough vitality in them to make it possible to say that they were alive. When they were planted out the change from indoors to outdoors had such a debilitating effect on them that for weeks they were undecided whether to live or die. If they lived we considered ourselves fortunate if we got a dozen flowers from each plant. Nowadays we understand the plant better. We don't attempt to start it in the house. We wait until the weather and the ground are warm and then we plant the tubers in the garden where they are to grow and bloom. We make the soil very rich. The plants begin to grow shortly after being planted, and in late August they come into bloom, and all through September they yield such a profusion of flowers as we never thought of getting from the plants when grown after the old method. The dahlia is one of our very best late-summer flowering plants when well grown. It must have a rich soil—it must not be allowed to get dry at the roots at any time—and it must be given substantial support, as its stalks are extremely brittle and easily broken down by hard winds and heavy rains. Dahlias are very effective when planted in the border among shrubs and perennials. There are few plants with a wider range of rich and brilliant color. By all means give them a place in your garden.
Don't sow hollyhock seed in the spring expecting to get flowers from your plants the same season. They will not bloom the first year from seed.
Don't allow your pansies to bloom—or try to bloom—during the hot, dry, midsummer season. They may produce some flowers, but they will be so inferior in quality that you will get no pleasure from them. I would advise cutting away all the old branches the latter part of July and encouraging the plants to renew themselves preparatory to fall flowering. If this is done, and strong, healthy growth results from the liberal application of a good fertilizer during August, you may expect a generous crop of large, fine flowers all through the autumn. If it is not done, and the plants are allowed to keep on trying to grow through the trying period of late summer, you will get few flowers and no really good ones.
Don't allow any plant to develop seed if you want it to keep on blooming after its first flowering period. The aim of all plants is to reproduce themselves, and this can only be done by seed development. If we interfere with the ordinary process of seed production by cutting away all flowers as soon as they begin to fade, the plants will at once make another effort to perpetuate their kind, and, as the first step in this direction is the production of flowers, it will be readily seen that it is possible to make many of them bloom all through the season.