Dahlias bloom continuously for a long time, and appear to be especially at home in the shrubbery border, or in the centre of a bed.  They are also valuable for training against buildings having a southern aspect, and here the flowering period is much prolonged, for an early frost will scarcely reach them.  A light wall is an admirable background for deep-coloured varieties, and the white or yellow flowers are displayed to advantage against a dark building.  Dahlias may be used either alone or in company with the climbing plants which are usual in such positions.

The flowers possess a special value for indoor decoration, and any odd corner of the garden can be utilised for producing a supply for this purpose.  Cutting should invariably be done in the early morning, while yet the dew is upon them.  They will then retain their beauty for a longer period than those taken at a later hour from the same plants.  This remark is true of all flowers, but it applies with especial force to the Dahlia.

==Daisy, double==

==Bellis perennis fl. pl.  Hardy perennial==

The remarkable development of the Double Daisy in recent years has raised this simple garden subject to the foremost rank of spring bedding plants.  So pronounced has been the improvement achieved in the size and form of the flowers, that plants raised from a reliable strain of seed will now produce blooms which may well be mistaken for specimens of finely shaped Asters.  When massed in a large bed the flowers present one of the most striking sights to be seen anywhere in the spring garden.  But apart from their use in formal beds and borders, Double Daisies make a pleasing break among Wallflowers, and are particularly attractive when grown as an edging to bulbous flowers and other spring-blooming subjects such as Polyanthus, Myosotis, &c.  Plants from a sowing made in pans in April and put out when large enough, may be flowered in the autumn of the same year.  But the method more generally practised is to sow on prepared beds in the open during June or July, and to transfer the seedlings when sufficiently developed to positions for blooming in the following season.

==Delphinium==

==Hardy perennial==

Nearly all the perennial varieties may be raised from seed, and where large numbers are required this is the best method of obtaining them.  They make handsome border flowers, and are extremely valuable during the early months of summer.  Sow in May, June or July, in the open ground, and transplant in autumn.  If mixed seed has been sown, it will not be wise to thin out all the weakly plants, or it may happen that some of the choicest shades may be lost.  The first flowers will be over by midsummer, but if the stalks are promptly cut down instead of being allowed to seed, there will be a second display later in the year.

Three varieties, Queen of Blues, Dwarf Porcelain Blue, and Blue Butterfly, may be flowered as annuals, by sowing in pans in March and transplanting to the open as soon as the seedlings are ready.  They also make particularly charming pot plants, for which purpose it is advisable to sow seeds in March.