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Cutting Flowers

VERY YARD should afford the pleasure of cut flowers for indoor arrangement! throughout the four seasons. Flowers can be grown in a massed border display which withstands heavy cutting. But the ideal way to grow them is in a special secluded section of the garden. They can then be picked freely without creating a barren effect in the yard. The planting area need not be a large space, but it should have good soil and be sunny.

With careful selection of nursery stock it is possible to have an abundance of flowers blooming almost every month of the year. A few plants of each variety you desire will be more useful than many plants of only a few varieties. You can grow your cutting stock in rows like vegetables or en masse for overall effect.

Annuals (plants which complete their flowering in one year) are the least expensive flowers for cutting and quickest to produce. You can sow the seeds yourself and in a few weeks or months cut the blooms.

Among the many excellent annuals are snapdragons, cosmos, larkspur, calendulas, nasturtium, sweet peas, stocks, scabiosa and asters. All are easy to grow.

You may also want to include biennials and perennials (plants which continue to live from year to year) in your cut-flower section. These plants, when grown from seed, take a year and sometimes two or three to bloom. If you want faster blossoms, the plants are available from your nurseryman already growing in flats.

Favorites in this group are the primula, columbine, delphinium, phlox, lupine, anemone, campanula, peony, foxglove, coreopsis, and the long-lasting chrysanthemums.

Bulbous plants have a very useful and special place in the cut-flower garden. They are invaluable for flower arrangements and, because the plants become brown and unattractive when their blooming period is over, this is an ideal spot for them. Crocuses, daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, and narcissus are beautiful in the spring. Later favorites are the iris, lilies and dahlias.

Cut flowers can be kept fresh for a longer period of time by following a few simple and easy to remember rules.