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Selection of Varieties: Sweet

The California poppies are perhaps the hardiest of all annuals, and if a second sowing is made in late June or early July they will bloom cheerfully on after most other flowers have been cut down by frost. I have even known them to survive a temperature of twelve degrees above zero. In Southern gardens they may be sown in the autumn and will flower well throughout the winter. Sweet Alyssum. As a summer edging for beds and borders, sweet alyssum has almost no equal. Its fragrant flower-heads are borne in profusion and, if kept from going to seed, will flower pretty well through the season. Sweet alyssum is hardy and may be sown out of doors quite early in the spring. The plants should be thinned out to stand three or four inches apart, and the young plants removed in the process of thinning may be easily transplanted to some other section of the garden. Annual alyssum ordinarily comes into flower about six weeks from the date of sowing. White is the usual color. There is also a pale lavender variety which is attractive although not so robust and vigorous as its parent. There are two distinct types, the very dwarf, compact form, and the slightly larger form with more loosely carried flower-heads. For extremely early bloom the seed may be sown indoors and later transplanted to the garden. This method is seldom practical, however, as the seed germinates so readily and grows so quickly out of doors that the time gained is not worth the extra labor involved.