==Aster==

==Callistephus sinensis.  Half-hardy annual==

In high summer so many flowers are available that no difficulty arises in making a varied display.  The real trouble is in discarding, especially for a limited area.  But when summer begins to merge into autumn the choice is not so extensive, and among the annuals which then adorn the garden Asters are indispensable.  This superb flower has been developed into many forms, and each class affords a wide range of magnificent colours.  Yet it must be admitted that in the majority of gardens Asters are seldom grown in sufficient numbers, and it is not unusual to find the flowers small in size and poor in colour.  In many cases we believe the reason to be that the culture of Asters is often commenced too late.  Preparations should therefore be made in good time, and apart from providing the requisite number of plants for filling beds and borders, and for supplying cut blooms, others should be raised for flowering in pots.  For indoor decoration full use is rarely ever made of Asters, although the colours include many delightful shades which may be employed with most telling effect.

To secure a long-continued display of bloom there must be several sowings, and the earliest will need the aid of artificial heat.  One secret of successful culture is to give no check to the plant from its first appearance until the time of flowering; and a suitable bed must be prepared, whether the seed be sown on the spot or plants are transferred from other quarters.

Asters do not readily accommodate themselves to violent alternations of heat and cold, particularly in the early stage of growth, and therefore the most sheltered position in the garden should be chosen for them; but avoid a hedge or shrubbery, where strong growing trees rob the soil of its virtue.  Begin the preparation of beds during the previous autumn by deep digging, and incorporate a liberal dressing of well-rotted manure as the work proceeds.  On light and shallow soils it will do more harm than good to bring the raw subsoil to the surface, but the subsoil may with advantage be stirred and loosened by the fork, and if a little loamy clay can be worked into it the land will be permanently benefited.

A very stiff soil will, however, present greater difficulties; but if by free working it can be made sufficiently friable, Asters will revel in it, and produce flowers of a size and colour that will reward the cultivator for all his trouble.  Throw the ground up roughly in October.  The more it is exposed to the action of wind, snow and frost, the more thoroughly will the winter disintegrate its particles and render it fertile.  Early in spring give another digging, and then work in a good supply of decayed manure, together with grit, charcoal, wood ashes, or other material that will help to render the soil rich and free.  Aim at inducing the roots to go down deep for supplies—­there will then be a cool moist bottom even in dry weather, and these conditions will do much toward the production of fine stocky plants capable of carrying an imposing display of flowers.