This section is from the book "Common Sense Gardens, How To Plan And Plant Them", by Cornelius V. V. Sewell. Also available from Amazon: Common Sense Gardens: How To Plan And Plant Them.
Larkspur is a favourite in English gardens; it is used in combination with many plants, such as Lilies, White Daisies and Yellow Pyrethrum, Monkshood, Snapdragon and Phlox. It is also grown in clumps among the pleached trees, or against a Yew hedge where perhaps it is more effective than anywhere else. In the common sense garden it might be grown in front of a brick retaining wall, using datum, formosurn and some of the brilliant English hybrids; with Campanula rotundifolia and pyram-idalis in front and Lilium candidum, L. superbum, L. umbellatum, L. tigrinum scattered through the bed; or in bunches against Rosa Rugosa or Box, as in the round bed. It is raised from seed in July and it is safer to winter it over in the cold frame, although it will grow in the open ground if the young plants are well top-dressed. The improved English Delphiniums grown from seeds of Kelway's named sorts are exquisite, and should be in every collection.
The single and semi-double Hollyhocks are easily grown from seed, and blossom the second season. They should be planted in clumps of from five to seven, and used through the main beds of the garden, among the Phlox, etc., for the tall flower spikes will rise above the other plants and the lower parts of the stalks, which are apt to become bare about blooming time, will be hidden. Save the seeds of the best colours, for they will be more reliable than any that you buy. I never could see any attraction in the Allegheny Hollyhock with its tight, ungraceful rosettes; it does not compare, either in form or colour, to the single. Hollyhocks look well in clumps of two or three in a row in front of a brick or stone wall; or large clumps at the bottom of a flight of steps. If your plants are bothered by red spiders spray the under side of the leaves with soapy water, and continue the spraying during hot weather. If the blight affects any of your plants they should be destroyed; but to prevent it spray the plants as soon as they begin to grow in the Spring with water in which soap and flowers of sulphur have been dissolved.
Transplant Hollyhocks to the garden very early in the season on a rainy day; and if the sun should come out strong it would be better to protect them.
 
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