In ‘The English Flower Garden’ Mr. Robinson says that ‘the annual Larkspurs are so little used in gardens that it is only in seed-farms that we have the pleasure of seeing them now and then in all their beauty.’ You can have them in various heights and colours, and for early or late flowering. The earliest flowering ones are the Dwarf Rocket Larkspurs, and the pink ones are beautiful flowers. They are twelve inches high. If you buy seeds of the taller kinds, you must put them towards the back of your border, for they grow three feet high. Of these the Rosy Scarlet is the best.
Nigella.
This is one of the most beautiful annuals there is, and its charming English name is Love-in-a-mist. Be sure to get the variety called Miss Jekyll, after the celebrated gardener. The flowers are a delicate yet vivid blue, surrounded by fennel-like leaves. They are easy to arrange for the room, and last well in water. The seed may be sown in March to bloom in June, and again in April or May for a later display. The seed-pods that succeed the flowers are ornamental, and those that ripen early in the summer sow themselves and flower in the following year. Some people say they can transplant Nigella, but many gardeners prefer to sow it where it is to stand. Thin out when the plants can be handled, as each one left, if well grown, will cover a square foot.
Nasturtium.
Everyone knows Nasturtiums, and the most ignorant gardeners can grow them. But they are so beautiful that good gardeners make room for them, too. They succeed best on poor soil. If you give them rich soil, they ‘run to leaf,’ as gardeners say, and do not produce many flowers. Even in a London square they will make a gay corner, provided they get sun. You probably know that there are two kinds—the dwarf ones, growing about nine inches high, and the Giant Nasturtiums, that will climb to the top of a tall fence, and cover it in the course of the summer. The seed should be sown at the end of April where it is to flower. We have transplanted Nasturtiums with great success, but it is not usually recommended. Sow each seed separately in a little hole two inches deep that you make with a stick. If you want a whole row of them, sow two quite near each other, then a foot farther on another pair, and proceed in this way all along your row. When the seedlings are up you can remove one of each pair, and you will not have an ugly gap in your row where a single seed has failed.
Sunflowers (Helianthus).
If you have a small garden full of delicate flowers, we should advise you not to grow Sunflowers at all. A group of them looks well in a shrubbery or at the back of a mixed border, and we have seen them used with admirable effect in a straight row, standing like sentinels on guard behind all the other plants in the bed; but they take up room, and require a great deal of food. If you want them, and your garden was not dressed in the autumn, some well-rotted compost should be dug in for the Sunflowers in spring. The young plants will not stand frost, and are usually raised in heat; but you can grow them quite successfully under a bell-glass, or, in warm parts of England, in the open ground. If you mean to raise them in this way, you must wait till quite the end of April or the beginning of May. The big seeds should be covered with an inch and a half of soil, and if you sow where they are to stand, put two close together to provide against failure. If both come up and live, the smaller of the two can be removed. Slugs devour the young plants if they can get at them, so you should put a little soot round each one. They need strong stakes, as most of them grow to a great height, and are easily blown down. There are some, however, that are not more than four feet high, and have a great many small flowers useful for cutting. Stella and Primrose Stella are good dwarf varieties.
Shirley Poppies.
If you happen to have a rough bank or a piece of waste ground where nothing much will grow, you can make it bright with annual Poppies, and if you let them seed themselves, they will come up in quantities year after year. They prefer a light soil to a heavy one, and they must have sun. It is of no use to sow Poppy-seed in a shady garden. In the border the amateur gardener invariably sows too much seed, and when it comes up his troubles begin. Poppy-seeds are small and cheap, and as a rule every seed germinates. You sow it in fine soil, and either cover it lightly or just rub it in with your hand. If you have not been careful to sow only the tiniest pinch mixed with sand, you will soon see the seedlings as thick as cress above the soil, and if you leave them you will not have any good plants, as Poppies want room to grow. They have tap-roots, and will not transplant, so you must thin them hard, leaving them at least six inches apart. Shirley Poppies have delicate stalks, and when you grow a clump in your garden, you should put a few stakes amongst them, and tie them with raffia or string, as otherwise they get beaten down and spoiled by a summer storm. The seed should be sown at the end of April. The Shirley Poppies have most beautiful colours, and they will last some time in water if you cut them when the buds are just beginning to show colour. Wilks’s re-selected Shirley is one of the best varieties. The Peony and Carnation-flowered Poppies make larger and stronger plants than the Shirleys. They should be sown in the centre of a small garden, and will make a great show in July.