Small gardens, and how to make the most of them

by Violet Purton Biddle

Many amateurs look upon annuals as rubbishy things to grow, and only suitable for the children’s gardens, but that is because they have generally failed to grow them properly. With the improved kinds now in cultivation, it is possible to make the portion of the flower-garden devoted to them “a thing of beauty” if not “a joy for ever.” As it is more satisfactory to bring them up from the beginning, I have described in [Chapter XVI]. a method generally successful. Seed-sowing out-of-doors being rather precarious, I have found it advisable to sow all the smaller seeds either in a green-house or frame, however hardy the annual be. This not only saves endless trouble in the way of protecting the seed from birds, etc., but is advantageous in that one has an earlier display of bloom, owing to the growth being quicker under glass. Below is a table of the choicest kinds:—

ANNUALS.
Name.	Length.	Colour.
Bartonia aurea	1 to 1½ ft.	Golden yellow.
Celosia plumosa	1½ ft.	Red and yellow.
(Somewhat after the style of Prince’s feather; tender.)
Coreopsis (or Calliopsis)	2 ft.	Yellow and red.
Eschscholtzia	1 ft.	Bright yellow.
(Very pretty grey-green foliage; select.)
Gaillardia	1½ ft.	Yellow and red.
(The “blanket flower”; good for cutting.)
Godetia	9 ins.	Red to white.
(Cup-shaped; showy.)
Mesembryanthemum	½ to 1 ft.	Ice plant.
(Grown for its foliage, which glistens beautifully; must have sun.)
Ionopsidium acaule	2 to 3 ins.	Pale mauve.
(Miniature plants for filling up crevices in rockwork.)
Linum coccineum	1 ft.	New scarlet variety.
Lupinus arboreus, “Snow-queen”	3 to 4 ft.	Pure white.
(A very stately plant; new.)
Nemophila grandiflora	½ ft.	Beautiful blue and white.
(Remind one of the eyes of a child.)
Phlox drummondi	1 ft.	All shades of red to white
(Half-hardy; must be massed.)
Shirley poppy	1 ft.	All shades of pink.
(Very graceful and free; light soil.)
Portulaca	½ ft.	Mixed colours.
(The most effective of all annuals; half-hardy; must have plenty of sun and a light soil.)
Salpiglossis	1½ ft.	All shades.
(Very fragile flowers, veined and marked in exquisite fashion; must be massed.)
Silene pendula compacta	½ ft.	Bright pink.
(Flowers shaped somewhat like a Maltese cross.)
Stocks, double, ten-week	1 ft.	Various.
(When thinning, only keep the weakest seedlings, as those are the double ones.)
BIENNIALS.
These, if sown one spring, will not flower the following summer, but do so the year after.
Name.	Length.	Colour.
Fox-gloves	3 to 4 ft.	White and coloured
(White, most picturesque; all do well in shade; unless seed is required, cut out main stem, when side shoots will flower.)
Lunaria biennis	1½ to 2 ft.	The old “honesty.”
(Much prized for its silvery seed-pods.)
Polyanthus	½ ft.	Mixed colours.
(Admirable for shady places; water well.)
Japanese pinks	1 ft.	Deepest crimson to white.
(Fringed petals; a whole bed of this is lovely.)
Sweet Williams	1 ft.	Mixed shades.
(Auricula type, the best; there is a novelty, blackish-maroon in shade, which should be placed amongst some of the crimson varieties.)
Snap-dragons	2 ft.	Varied.
(Flower from June to November; eschew reds of a mauve hue.)
Wallflower, “Ruby Gem”	2 ft.	Reddish violet.

The seeds of all these, true to name and ripe for germination, may be obtained from Messrs. Barr, Long Ditton, Surrey, who sell sixpenny packets of all these kinds; small quantities of the well-known sorts only costing threepence. This is a great advantage to owners of small gardens, as one does not wish to give 1s. 6d. or 2s. 6d. for perhaps two thousand seeds of one variety, when only two or three dozen are required. Penny packets of seeds may be had from the One and All Company at most greengrocer’s, and are really wonderful value for the money.

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CHAPTER XIV

Window Boxes

How to make them—Relation of box to residence they are intended to adorn—Suitable soil—Window plants for different aspects.

Where gardens are small, one seems to need window boxes more than where there is land and to spare. They add to the number of one’s flowers, and, if carefully looked after, decidedly improve the appearance of a house. That is a large “If” though, for unkempt boxes only make it look untidy.

FLOWERS FIRST, BOX SECOND. Though the tiled sort obtain a good deal of patronage, nothing really looks much better than boxes covered with virgin cork, if constantly renewed, for it acts as a foil to the flowers, whereas patterned tiles are rather apt to take one’s attention away from them. In summer, certainly, they have the advantage of preserving the earth in a moist condition, and in smoky towns they help to give a bright, clean look to the houses so decorated. Old-fashioned houses, however, should always have their window boxes made in the virgin cork style, as they accord better with their surroundings.