William Curtis

“ It is an annual, and not a very tender one; seedling plants sown in Autumn frequently surviving our winters.
As it is desirable to have this plant in flower for as great a length of time as possible, to have them early, we must sow them in the Autumn, either in pots or in the open border; if sown in pots, they can the more readily be secured from any severe weather, by placing them in a hot-bed frame, a common practice with gardeners who raise them for the London markets, in which they are in great request: others again should be sown early in the spring, and the sowings repeated every month ”