Growing flowering annuals

Press, 7 March 1987, Page 23

Growing flowering annuals

An Introduction to Annuals. By Roy Edwarda. Baacanda, 1987. 112 pp. 165 colour platoa. $21.95. (Reviewed by Thelma Strongman) In modern gardening, writing a book on annuals is a bit like considering only the use of the black notes in a piece of piano music; it is their creative combination with other components which produces the melody. Edwards's "Introduction to Annuals" gives an excellent horticultural account of their characteristics and culture, and discusses their modern use for the gardener — not as precise, formal, mass-flowering bedding displays, but as "fillers" between Shrubs and trees, as accent plants, and as plants for pots and containers. In addition he provides useful lists of annuals for special locations and different seasons, and provides a list

of pests, diseases, and controls. Much of the book is taken up with accounts of individual plants with the relevant facts clearly displayed, and each is accompanied by a full-colour photograph. In the chapter on colour contrast and harmony, Edwards again emphasises that all that is needed in some situations is a few annuals to complement an area of trees and shrubs. However his chosen photographs do not exemplify their modem use, showing an example of old-fashioned "bedding-out” in straight rows, an image that might be better not perpetuated other than in the context of an historical garden. However, from a practical point of view, "An Introduction of Annuals” gives an excellent account of the subject, and its production, by Bascands, a Christchurch firm, is of very high quality.