Plants And Flower at www.japanese-home-gardens.com

Propagation and growing: sow seed in late spring, in well-drained, rich soil. If seed is not required, remove the flower stems as they appear. Self-sown seedlings will grow freely if the plants and flower are allowed to flower; if not, propagate them by dividing the parent plants and flower approximately every three years or so. The seeds are ready to harvest when they have turned a gray-green color and have hardened. Cut off the whole flower head and dry slowly indoors.

Paper moons (Scabiosa stellata 'Drumstick') are a new garden flower cultivar. When the plants and flower are in bloom they look like a rather washed-out scabiosa (the pin-cushion flower), in an unattractive shade of blue. But they soon ripen into bronze-colored, round seed heads that look more like coral fossils than plants and flower. Stems reach 40 inches in length. Space the plants and flower 8 inches apart. They are hardy annuals.

Annuals are plants and flower with a short life but a merry one. In the space of a few months they grow, flower and die, leaving the ground free for further cultivation, if necessary, and for other plants and flower. Biennials are plants and flower which must be renewed annually from seed, since they die after they have flowered and set seed. In this they resemble annuals, but biennials take over a year to complete their cycle of growth. Seed sown one year will produce plants and flower that will flower the next year, ripen their seed, and die before the second winter.