CHAPTER III_Gardening for Little Girls

Flowers that Must be Renewed Every Year--(Annuals)

And 'tis my faith that every flower enjoys the air it

breathes.

--_Wordsworth._

IF you want flowers that grow quickly, plant annuals! Some will bloom

within six weeks, so if you can help out meantime with some transplanted

roots and bulbs, you will have flowers from the first of the season.

"Plant thickly," says one writer. "It is easier and more profitable to

grow flowers than weeds."

The following annuals can be sown outdoors late in April, as far North

as New York, in ordinary seasons,--only remember that those marked with

a * do not like to be transplanted:--

Alyssum

Aster

Candytuft

Chrysanthemum (Annual)

Coreopsis (Annual)

Cosmos

Godetia

Larkspur (Annual)

Marigold

Nicotiana

Pansy

Petunia

Phlox Drummondi

Pink, Chinese

Salvia

Stock, Ten Weeks'

Zinnia

* California Poppy

* Cornflower

* Mignonette

* Morning glory

* Nasturtium

* Portulaca

* Sweet Sultan

OUTDOOR PLANTING

Have the soil in your flower bed made fine and light with sand and

fertilizer, and entirely free from sticks and stones. If it should

happen to be already too sandy, add black loam or leaf mold. (Either

father or brother will probably have time to help you get this right.)

Plant your seeds evenly, and rather sparingly if you do not want to pull

up a lot later on account of being crowded. And you can plant either in

lines or scatter in patches in bed or border, as you prefer, only be

sure that the seed is covered about four times its own depth. A few

things, like poppies and portulaca, have such tiny seeds that it is

best to mix them with half a teaspoonful of fine soil, and scatter it

where you wish, afterwards pressing down firmly with a small board.

TRANSPLANTING--ANNUALS

When your plants have developed a few leaves, and are big enough to

handle, prepare to transplant them. This exercise does them good, and

while a few resent it, the rest will grow better and be stronger. Choose

morning or evening for the work, although it can be done at any time on

a cloudy day. (One of my friends loves to do her transplanting in the

rain!) Be sure that the ground is thoroughly damp, even if you have to

sprinkle it well beforehand.

PUDDLING

Lift each seedling with a spoon, so as to keep a ball of the moist earth

around the roots, set it in a hole made where you want your flower to

grow, and then fill up this hole with water before you begin to put in

the rest of the soil. This is called puddling, and will enable you to do

your transplanting with the least possible disturbance to the roots.

Next add all the soil necessary to fill up the hole, and press firmly

around the plant. Then cover with an old can or berry box, or even a

cone of newspaper held in place with stones, until the seedling has had

time to get used to its new surroundings. And remember that this

"puddling," followed by protection from the sun, will enable you to

transplant almost anything you wish, successfully.

SWEET PEAS

Sweet peas require peculiar treatment for an annual. As early as the

ground can be worked,--about the middle of March around New York,--get

some one to dig you a trench (and it is best to have it run north and

south), about fifteen inches deep. Have put in this trench a layer of

well-rotted manure, then a layer of soil, a sprinkling of wood ashes,

and then another layer of soil, filling the trench until it is left only

six or eight inches deep. Soak your seeds over night in warm water to

make them start more quickly, and then plant them two inches apart, in a

double row. Cover with only a few inches of soil until they sprout, and

then gradually fill up the trench as the vines grow. Train them on brush

or chicken wire, and keep them well watered in order to get the best

results.

The latest method I have had recommended for growing sweet peas,--but

which I have not tried,--is to have the soil just as carefully prepared,

but then to rake it smooth, make a straight drill only half an inch

deep, and plant 3 seeds every 6 inches in the row. If all three grow,

pull up the two weakest, leaving only the best plant every 16 inches

apart. This way,--with plenty of water and cultivation, is said to

produce the very finest kind of flowers. You might try a few on the

side.

During the hot weather put grass clippings around the roots to help keep

them moist and protected from the hot sun. Cut the flowers every day in

order to prolong their blooming.

A word about names, though, before we go a step farther. I intended at

first to give you only the common names, despite the protests of a very

good friend,--an English botanist. To clinch her argument one day, she

exclaimed with considerable heat, "Why, what they call 'baby's breath'

here on Long Island might be 'infant's sneeze' up in Connecticut! But if

you tell the children it's real name is GYPSOPHILA, they'll never be

mistaken."

And later, when I found that foxglove (originally Folk's glove, alluding

to the "little folk," or fairies) has been known also--according to

Holland--as Thimbles, Fairy Cap, Fairy Fingers, Fairy Thimbles, Fairy

Bells, Dog's Fingers, Finger Flowers, Lady's Glove, Lady Fingers, Lady's

Thimble, Pop Dock, Flap Dock, Flop Dock, Lion's Mouth, Rabbit's Flower,

Cottages, Throatwort, and Scotch Mercury, I concluded I would better

urge you to remember its Latin name, DIGITALIS, by which the plant is

known the world over.

The botanical terms will easily stick in your mind, too, because they

are unusual. Then people who are familiar with flowers will know exactly

what you are talking about, and you yourself will always have a certain

pride in the scientific knowledge that enables you to call things by

their right name.

You will see, if you study the lists given, what a simple matter it is

to plan for a garden, big or little, and with reasonable care you will

be rewarded with flowers throughout the season. The following list will

give you more explicit information about the ones people like best:--

FLOWERS THAT MUST BE RENEWED EVERY YEAR

A GUIDE TO THE COMMON ANNUALS

NOTE.--The time that they will bloom and the quality of your flowers

will depend on the time you sow your seed, on your soil, your location,

and your care. The dates given apply to the locality around New York,

and will be earlier if you are South, and later if North, of this

section. Both the height and the flowering time of the same plants vary

with the different varieties, so find out the particular kind you get.

The richer the soil, the finer the flowers, as a rule, and therefore

fertilizer of some kind should be applied at least once a season, about

the time the buds are forming.

================+=======+=======+==========+===========+=========+========+========

| | | SOW | SOW | GOOD | |BLOOMING

----------------+-------+-------+----------+-----------+---------+--------+--------

| | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

see | | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

Baby's Breath |White | 1 to | | April | Border | Sun |May

(_Gypsophila_) | | 2 ft. | | | | |(sow

| | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

(_Impatiens |Red | 2 ft. | April | | Bed | |Oct.

| | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

| Red | | | two weeks | | |

| | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

(_Coreopsis | | 3 ft. | | | Bed | |Oct.

| | | | | | |

(_Centaurea | | 2 ft. | | | Bed | |frost

| | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

Cypress Vine | Red |10 to | April | May | Screen | Sun |June,

| | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

| Red | 2 ft. | | | Bed | or |Oct.

| | | | | | sun |

| | | | | | |

see | | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

Hyacinth Bean |Purple |10 to | | May | Screen | Sun |July to

| | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

(_Lobelia | |12 in. | | | | |Nov.

| | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

Marigold, |Yellow | 2 ft. | March | May | Border | Sun |

| | | | | | |

(_Reseda | Red | | | and July | Bed | |Oct.

| | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

tricolor_) | | 12 in.| | May | | shade |Oct.

| | | | | | |

(_Petunia | to | 2 ft.| | in May | Bed | |frost

| | | | | | |

Drummondi_) | Red | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

[B]Pink, Chinese|White | 1 ft. | Feb. | March | Border | Sun |All

| | | | | | |

Poppy, Shirley | White | 1 to | | March, | Bed | Sun |June to

| | | | | | |

Portulaca |No blue| 6 to | | May 1st |Carpeting| In |All

(_Portulaca | | 9 in. | | | | dry, |summer

| | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

Scarlet Runner | Red |12 ft. | | April |Climber | Sun |July to

| | | | | | |

(_Antirrhinum_)| | 3 ft. | | | Bed | |frost

| | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

(_Helianthus | |12 ft. | | | bed | |frost

| | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

Sweet Pea | All | 3 to | | March | Back of | Sun |July to

| | | | | | |

(_Dianthus | |18 in. | | | Bed | |Oct.

| Red | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

Tobacco Plant |White | 2 to | | May | Border | Sun |July to

(_Nicotiana_) | Pink | 5 ft. | | | | |Oct.

| Red | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

| | | | | Bed | |Oct.

| | | | | | |

(_Zinnia |to reds| 2 ft. | | | Bed | |Oct.

----------------+-------+-------+----------+-----------+---------+--------+--------

FOOTNOTES:

[A] A tender perennial, flowering the first year from seed sown early.

[B] A biennial, flowering the first year from seed sown early.