Annuals
The variety of annual flowers with which we may make our garden blaze is constantly increasing, and many sorts are continually improving ; but most of us are content with just a few favourites. It is the moment (as the B.B.C. has reminded us) to visit the show of annuals at Wisley ; and every pilgrim will come away with a desire to be more catholic in future. The question arises whether to mass or to mix, in colour and in sorts. For the small garden there is much to be said for mixing. Some seedsmen sell mixed packets of annuals that have been selected according to stature ; and personally I never got more fun out of a flower bed than out of a packet of a dozen or so mixed dwarfs. Perhaps pink and mauve are the safest mixture of colours, and just now there is a fashion for beds consisting wholly of pink and mauve asters or pink and purple larkspurs. And in sweet peas, two of the best varieties yet produced—Powerscourt and Gleneagles—agree admirably with the red-pink Mrs. Searles. On the same lines the mauve scabious mixes well with the pink larkspur. Such combinations are of wide popularity and very successful ; tut where space is small a much braver mixture is worth risking ; and Wisley gives ideal examples of the art. One of the best of the blues—and blues are eagerly sought—is among the viscaria. W. BEACH THOMAS.
Previous page
