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Show Weeks of Garden Beauty Added by Early Plants ! , j ; V: ; v v .fi i i 4 J Snapdragons. Weeks more of summer color from flowering annuals can be enjoyed in gardens by starting plants under protection before freezing weather ends. The greatest gain in added beauty comes from flowers that grow slowly, taking as much as ninety days to bloom from seed. Most popular of these are snapdragons, snap-dragons, petunias and asters, which develop slowly to flowering flower-ing size. . Time may also be gained with tender varieties, which might be killed if sown in the garden before danger of frost is over. Among these are acroclinium, dimorphotheca, lobelia, marigold, mari-gold, petunia, phlox drummondi, scabiosa, verbena and zinnia. Sweet peas, though hardy, can be started early with advantage if the seeds are sown in plant bands so the plants can be set in the garden without disturbing their roots. Besides the gain in time, there are other advantages from starting start-ing flowers in seed boxes, even if this is done outdoors when the seed could be sown directly in the garden. Better care can be given infant plants growing in a box. The boxes can be kept where it is convenient to water them daily, and moved to shade when the sun grows too hot. All the seed sown in boxes can be made to produce plants by transplanting the seedlings to other boxes while they are tiny. Each plant can then be set exactly ex-actly where it is needed more easily and accurately than where seed is sown direct. The latter course usually involves thinning out plants with considerable waste. Tender, slow growing vegetables vegeta-bles are usually started early before their seed could safely be sown outdoors. Tomatoes, peppers, and egg plant for home gardens are given this head start through most of the country. coun-try. Cauliflower for spring planting, plant-ing, which must mature heads before hot weather comes, requires re-quires an early start in most Dwarf Petunias. ' fr A. 4. V Astera sections. Early cabbage, broccoli and kohlrabi frequently receive it. For other vegetables little It gained by setting out plants rather rath-er than sowing seed directly in the garden row as soon as it is safe to do so. |