“I cannot take up all the garden flowers with you, because it is an impossibility.  But a certain number of the more common ones I will talk of.

“There are certain plants rather easier to grow than others, and very satisfactory in results.  One of these all-around plants is the pansy.  It likes best of all cool, moist places but it will do well, under rather reverse conditions.  Pansies are the easiest of plants to grow from seed, and they offer a ready response to experiments with cross-fertilization.  The very best time to sow plants is after midsummer.  Anyway, the work must be done before October the first.  Let us claim then that the middle of August is a good time.  Make little drills a quarter of an inch deep for the seed; or better, sprinkle it on a fine seed bed.  Over the seed sift a little soil.  Pansy seed is fine and small, so great care must be taken in the early waterings; better far to cover the bed with old sacking, and water the sacking.  In this way, the seed is not washed away.  The little sturdy plants should be covered over with leaves or straw for the wintertime.  When early spring comes, you will be delighted with plants which are well along.

“Pansy flowers should always be kept well picked.  Do not let the seed pods form if you desire continuous bloom.  It is well to hold this in mind—­that if plants are hurried along too fast, the flowers suffer in size.  Small, inferior flowers result from such treatment.  Pansies have a habit of running out—­that is, the flowers grow smaller each year.  It is merely a warning to keep making new sowings in order that one may always have large, vigorous blooms.

“Choice seed of this flower is very expensive.  It is a plant that some florists have put all their time upon.  It has seemed to certain men that one of the greatest things in the world, is to find out ways of improving the plants of the earth.  So certain fruits are crossed to make new and better ones; and certain flowers are being constantly worked over to get superior strains.  Sweet peas, pansies, stock, and dahlias are plants which have been much improved by man’s skill.

“Larkspur is one of those plants which children so rarely try.  I have wondered often why.  It is not hard to raise, and so I am hoping that some of you will try it another season.  The larkspur is a hardy plant, and there are both annuals and perennials in this family.  Some varieties are dwarfed, and grow only a foot and a half high, while others grow five feet in height.  This latter growth is very charming in the background of the garden.  The flower spikes are showy and the foliage pretty.  The larkspur likes a pretty rich sort of soil.  The seed is very slow in germinating, and that is reason enough for fall planting.  The stay over winter gives these fussy seeds time to make up their minds to germinate.  This sowing should be done after the middle of October.

“Really charming blue flowers are a bit difficult to find because we have fewer blue flowers than those of the reds and yellows.  Do not get the impression that larkspurs are only blue in colour.  There are yellow, pink, red, and white varieties.  But the blue is very fine.  So when you are thinking of high flowers for backgrounds, keep the larkspur in mind.