320 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



our fanners should receive far more attention, and I hope these farmers' institutes that 

 are being held through the country will take up the matter and awaken a spirit of 

 improvement. 



I hope the members of this society will do their duty and set a good example in their 

 respective neighborhoods. Farm life must be made more attractive. 



George EUwanger, cliairuiau of the committee on oniameutal trees and 

 shrubs, read a paper on 



HARDY HERBACEOUS PLANTS. 



Although hardy flowers do not come under the title of ornamental shrubs, they are, 

 many of them, after all, ornamental shrubs in miniature, and some of them of larger 

 habit than not a few of the arborescent growths that adorn the garden. Certainly no 

 grounds, however limited in extent, can do withoiit some hardy perennials. A place or 

 garden deprived of hardy flowers is a house without pictures, a landscape without sun. 

 Both ornamental shrubs and hardy llowers are required for the outward adornment of 

 the home; neither can be dispensed with. But hardy flowers, somehow, are considered 

 as difficult to grow, and are thought to require the constant attendance of a gardener. 

 Where the grounds are of considerable extent and the collection is large, the latter 

 opinion may hold good. But for places of ordinary extent, where hardy plants are 

 grown, the care required is comparatively slight. 



Some care they assuredly require — nothing that is worth having takes care of itself. 

 Numerous species there are that call for special treatment. Many foreign plants and 

 some natives are always difficult to grow. Some are capricious as to soil and shade; 

 some demand an especial climate; some are too tender to successfully withstand our 

 winters. On the other hand, a large number of the most desirable hardy flowers are 

 very easily grown and scarcely need further attention after they once become estab- 

 lished. 



Most good garden soils will grow good garden flowers; and with proper soil to start 

 with, an annual manuring, an occasional stirring of the ujjper surface, and attention to 

 watering during extreme dry weather, the flowers will seldom fail to perform their part. 

 Some strong-growing subjects there are which will prove exhaustive to the soil, and 

 these may require future transplanting or dividing. Some species require renewal 

 through fresh seedlings or cuttings. A large majority of hardy flowers, however, as I 

 have stated, continue to increase in beauty year by year. 



By herbaceous plants is meant such plants as die down in the autumn and renew 

 themselves in the spring. To mention and describe all desirable herbaceous plants, 

 even briefly, would require a large volume. The space accorded me is limited; and I, 

 therefore, in this instance, merely refer briefly to a few species, supplementing these 

 with a list of some among the many others that may be cultivated to advantage. 



Perhaps the most satisfactory manner of growing hardy flowers is in borders, by 

 themselves, where the roots of trees and shrubs may not interfere. Some of the more 

 robust species, like the pieonies, the large Japanese anemones, etc., may find a place in 

 the foreground of the shrubbery. The lawn should not be broken for plants, unless it 

 be large enough to admit of a bed or two of really desirable flowers, or a group of large orna- 

 mental grasses, like the hardy Japanese eulalias. In planting it is well to plant thickly 

 so that bare spaces may not obtrude. So, also, spring and summer blooming flowers 

 should be alternated, in order that borders may at no season suggest a dearth of bloom 

 in large individual portions. Monotonous planting will be avoided; grouping will be 

 carried out here and there; and contrasts of color will be carefully studied. Both the 

 tree and herbaceous p;eonies will find a place in the shrubbery and flower-borders, and 

 roses, lillies, larkspurs, phloxes, columbines, campanulas, irises, hemerocallis, poppies, 

 funkias, heliantha?, and a host of other hardy flowers will extend the flowering season. 

 Subjects, like the azalea, which require special treatment and are always more or less 

 affected by our rigorous climate. I have not included. 



Among the medium and tall-growing plants I would specify: Aquilegia chrysantha, 

 aquilegia coerulea, many of the campamulas, clematis erecta, many of the 

 delphiniimis or larkspurs, funkia grandiflora. funkia sieboldiana, funkia japonica, the 

 red and white valerian, the red and white dictamnus, coreopsis lanceolata, papaver 

 orientale, papaver orientale bracteatum, . hemerocallis flava, monarda didyma 

 lathyrus grandiflorus, many of the German and Japanese Iris, hesperis, matronalis 

 h. albo pi., platycodon grandiflorum, helianthus multiflorus fl. pi., helianthus 

 orgyalis, helianthus doronicoides. helianthus rigidus, helianthus decapetulas, spirtea 

 aruncus, spira3a filipendula, spirrt?a venusta, spirsea ulmaria fl. pi., staticelatifolia, lilium 



