FLOWERS ALL THE YEAR

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 94, 18 October 1934, Page 22

FLOWERS ALL THE YEAR

WHAT TO SOW AND WHEN

•' A correspondent writes to know ?*what to sow and when in order to fcave a good supply of flowers all the year."' There should never .bo any difficulty in having the garden ! bright during the spring and summer months &nd even during the autumn, in a mild climate such as ours. The seasons run into oao another and it would ,be hard to tell from tho plants in flower which Season one was in. : '.' The .winter is • more difficult, always, j tut eyen-then-, there.are some < plants ■Which bloom, while many xof the shrubs supply colour in their berries and foliage. ■ '. In tho warmer places near the sea ;some of the summer annuals seed llieru•selves and produce a crop of blooms throughout the winter. Iceland poppies sown in late- December or early January i •will flower in tho ■winter, tho same with calendulas and nemesia, although the •latter will not survive hard frosts. ' Dahlias bloom from Christmas to lEaster, followed by chrysanthemums ■fend asters which continue till June. ' Hydrangeas' are hardly ever out of '.flower, while lueulia blooms in the heart of -winter. Heleborus (Christmas S-ose) is -another good winter flower, ■while the earliest of tho bulbous plants -start blooming long before the winter is over. Primroses and polyanthuses also .'commence to flower in the winter .'.months. Of course,' it cannot be expected that 'jhe plants should produce such fine flowers or in such profusion during the cold weather as when it is warmer. The flowers take longer to open and unless sheltered are liable to be damaged to some extent by rough stormy weather. Another very early flowering plant is Iris stylosa, a beautiful pale blue iria which is almost hidden by its dense foliage unless sought for. Slugs arc ■ very fond of tho buds so war must be ■waged on these pqsts if perfect blooms are :desired. The flowers should be picked in bud for indoor decoration, as they open perfectly inside. Below is a short list of seeds to sotv | for the different seasons:— . | Sow in Spring for Summer and Autumn BloomingAntirrhinum, asters, carnations, calliopsis, cornflowers, sweet sultans, costtios, dianthus,, dimorphothecaj eschseholtzia, gaillardia, hunnemannia, lobelia, musk, nasturtium, nicotiana, petunia, phlox drummondi, portulaca, salpiglossis, salvia, scabiousj sunflower, sweet peas, zinnias. j3ow in Autumn for Spring and Summer Flowering— Anemones, aquilegias, auriculas, calendulas, calliopsis, Canterbury bells, candytuft, carnations, clarkia, delphinium, forgot-me-npt, godetia, hollyhock, leptosym, linaria, lupins, niignonette ■ mhnulus, nemesia, nimophila, nigeUa, pansy, polyanthus, primrose, poppies, pyrithrum, ranunculas, stocks, sweet peas, wallflower.

Where the display in the garden is dependent upon annuals a. common mistake is to leave the plants in after their period of usefulness is over. They should bo pulled out as soon as done, the ground being well dug and manured and replanted with a fresh batch, preferably of a different variety. With judicious management the gairden should never be quite bare of flowers.