Considerations in Selecting Background Plants

For tall background plants we tried cleome Giant Pinkoriginal habitat of this annual was Mexico and Central
Queen, an improved hybrid in a better color than theAmerica, where it is also known as Mexican sunflower.
old-fashioned spider-flower. Graceful salmon pinkMost of the garden varieties are hybrids and
flowers with long spidery stamens continue to open atimprovements on the species, with earlier bloom and a
the top of the 3. to 4-foot stalks. Beneath the bloomsmore reasonable height.
seed pods form on long slim stems.Richly colored and very easy to grow, tithonia
Easy to grow and exotic in effect, cleome can befrequently reseeds itself and comes up the following
used to advantage in spectacular arrangements. Helenyear. Torch tithonia, a promising novelty and one of the
Campbell is a new pure white cleome introduced thisAll-America selections of the best annuals for 1951, is
year. Seed should be sown thinly outdoors when thecertain to appeal because of its compact, bushy
soil has warmed up and seedlings thinned to stand 2growth. It grows a little over 4 feet in height, with a
feet or more apart.spread of 2 feet. This novelty also blooms earlier than
The Golden Flower of the Incas is the romantic namethe older types, with flowers of a fiery scarlet.
for Tithonia speciosa, a huge shrubby plant unlike anyWhy not grow at least one novelty annual in your
we had grown before. The name tithonia was given itgarden this year? The suspense of waiting to see the
in honor of a mythological character, Tithonus. Theresults is half the fun.