Easy Miniatures For Your Garden

Many edging annuals look dainty, but, in reality, are among the hardiest of garden plants and produce countless bright-colored flowers in spring and summer with a minimum of care.

Gracing this group of easygoing miniatures are linaria, nemophila, a pretty little California native, lovingly called "Baby-Blue-Eyes," the pimpernels, candytuft and happy-golucky red flax, linum rubrum. None of the five grows higher than a foot and a half. All are ideally suited to edge a border or pathway with radiant flowers, makes excellent fillers between perennials or massed in the foreground of the shrub border. Try them in pots for vivid touches of color in the patio, on the terrace or at an entrance.

Baby-Slue-Eyes and candytuft prefer a partially shady location, while the pimpernels and red flax thrive in sunny spots. Linaria does well at the beach in full sun. Farther inland, it blooms longer if given a few hours of shade from noon on.

All five produce sturdier plants and more flowers if the seed is sown right in the bed where they are to grow and develop. Sow the seeds when the ground is definitely warm. Though not at all fussy about soil, the seeds take hold easier in a loose, warm sandy loam. Prepare the bed some time before planting. For a sunny bed, spade in two inches of cow manure and a little sand.

For the partially shady bed use a like amount of peat moss. Soak the bed well. Then pulverize the top few inches and rake the bed to provide a smooth planting surface. When you are ready to sow the seed, moisten the bed lightly. If the seed is very fine as is seed of linaria, mix with a little dry sand before sowing.

This will help to distribute the seed more evenly. After sowing, firm down with the hand or a light board. Do not cover with soil. Instead, sprinkle a fine sieve of peat moss on top of the bed. Then cover the bed with a piece of gunny sacking and water lightly. Keep the sacking moist until the seeds germinate, then remove. Water by flowing the hose slowly on the ground near the plants.

After the little plants are about two inches high, a feeding of a good all-purpose liquid fertilizer helps to induce strong growth and more flowers. To obtain bushy plants, prick off the first bud. To have a continuous succession of bloom, you can sow additional seed every few weeks until mid-June. If plants are cut back after blooming they usually produce a second set of flowers.

Linaria is one of the most surprising edgers. The slender foot-high plants, with fluffy grass-like foliage, look as if a slight wind would slay them. However, they seem to be indestructible, grow into compact low bushes, bloom profusely and continuously, the slender stems crowded with masses of exquisitely formed, dancing jewel-like flowers that resemble miniature snapdragons.

Colors are bright yellow, soft cream, pink, rose and violet. Thin the plants to three inches apart. Though listed as annuals, linarias usually scatter the seed generously and you'll find them pushing their p r e t t y heads above ground earlier than ever each succeeding spring. Linaria is a good cutting flower for indoor bouquets, also does well in rock gardens.

Nemophila is a real dwarf, growing just six inches high. It makes a charming colorful carpet for a shady nook because the plants spread. Often one plant will cover a square foot of ground and is clouded with dainty cup-shaped, sky-- blue flowers.

The Pimpernel is an old-fashioned favorite. It grows a foot and a half high, thrives in a warm sunny spot, makes an attractive ground cover or edger and does well in pots or hanging baskets. It is called the "Poor Man's Weather Glass" because the flowers close at the approach of stormy weather. From one package of seed you can get a mixture of scarlet, vivid blue or white flow flowers, somewhat star-shaped.

Candytuft grows wild on hilly slopes in Spain, hence is perfectly at ease here in the Southland, a climate similar to its homeland. The flowers appear in quaint, plump tufts in pink, rose, lavender, rose, purple and pure white. Plants grow 12 to 15 inches tall, do well in rookeries and in pots, also for cutting.