MIGNONETTE
Reseda odorata. Hardy annual
Mignonette is so much prized that we must devote to it a paragraph,
although there is little to be said. In many gardens plants appear year
after year from self-sown seeds, and it will therefore be evident that
Mignonette may
be grown with the utmost simplicity. As a border plant we
have but to sow where it is to remain, at different times from March to
midsummer; the one important point is to make the bed very firm; in fact
the soil should be trodden hard. It is imperative to thin early and
severely, for any one plant left alone will soon be a foot in diameter,
and in some circumstances cover a much larger area. Where bees are kept
and space can be afforded, seed should be sown in quantity, for
Mignonette honey is of the finest quality in flavour and fragrance. In
pot culture it should be remembered that Mignonette does not transplant
well; therefore, having sown, say, a dozen seeds in each of a batch of
48-or 32-sized pots, firmly filled with rich porous soil to which a
little lime or mortar rubble has been added, the young plants must be
thinned down to five, or even three, in each pot, as soon as they begin
to grow freely. If small plants are wanted early, leave five in a pot;
if larger specimens are wanted later, leave only three, or even only
one. For winter and spring, sow in August and September and keep them as
hardy as possible until it becomes necessary to put them under glass for
the winter. A further sowing for succession may be made in January or
February. Several strains of different tints are now at the command of
cultivators of this favourite flower.
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Next: MIMULUS
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