204 



GARDENERS- CHRONICLE 



Hardy Perennials 



By ARTHUR SMITH 



IX a gardening book published about bait a century ago 

 it was stated tbat: "Deciduous shrubs are beyond all 

 question the most ini]X)rtant element in iilanting 

 grounds, especially small ones." 



At that period there were comparatively few species of 

 flowering shrubs in use. and outside these, flower gar- 

 dening was almost entirely confined to the bedding-out 

 system, lawns being cut up into beds of all sizes and 

 shapes, and gardening with hardy plants was practically 

 unknown, \\hile since then a great change for the better 

 has generally taken place it is still possible to see those 

 deplorable excrescences upon the landscape in the form 

 of beds upon a lawn filled with tropical and sub-tropical 

 rubbish for two or three luonths, and the rest of the year 

 nothing but bare earth. 



There is nothing artistic in a garden cut up into geo- 

 metrical beds filled with bedding plants in which the na- 

 tural beauties of ihe flowers are lowered to the level of 

 being used in mere color design withtout any reference to 

 the habits and idios\ncrasies of the plants themselves ; 

 clipping — especially in the case of car])et bedding — l>eing 

 alwavs resorted to for the purpose of keeping the pattern 

 geometrical. No true artist who is a lover of flowers 

 and who is capable of seeing the beauty that exists in Na- 

 ture would attempt to desecrate a garden or park with 

 this tracery work which is degrading to the true art of 

 landscape gardening. William Morris, in his Hopes and 

 Fears fur Art, wrote thus in connection with this style: 

 "Another thing also much too commonly seen is an aber- 

 ration of the human mind which otherwise I should have 

 been ashamed to warn you. It is technically known as 

 'carpet-bedding.' Need I explain further? J blush with 

 shame at the thought. This style of decoration seems to 

 have been mtroduced and kept up as a manifestation of a 

 gorgeous and highly elaborated style of gardening, a 

 style which suggests the thought of enormous cost and 

 labor to produce nothing but vulgar ostentation." 



To the majority of people the great incentive in causing 

 them to have a country home is to have a house sur- 

 rounded by a garden and a place for rest and recuperation. 

 I'.ut what is there restful to the eye or brain in a garden 

 laid out in a stiff, formal manner, containing nothing but 

 harsh glaring colors? What does a garden amount to 

 which depends more or less entirely u])on bedding ])lants? 

 In the first ])lace the lawn is spoiled by having beds cut 

 into it ; then it is unsafe to bed out before the end of May 

 or early in June ; July is well advanced before there is 

 much effect and before Septeml^er is finished frost gen- 

 erally does away with it all. So barely three months of 

 flowers, where there are flowers at all, is the total which is 

 obtained for the trouble and expense, and dining the 

 whole of that short j)eriod there is no more change in the 

 appearance of the beds than in the patterns of the floor 

 coverings of the house and they are both similarly inter- 

 esting. The efifects produced by carpet bedding and the 

 bedding out system trenerally could be just as well ob- 

 tained by artificial flowers, or by painting the ci>lors uixm 

 wood and laying it ujjon the grass. If there is one thing 

 more than another which has marred much of the orna- 

 mental surroundings of country hrimes it is this system 

 with its comparatively enormous annual expenditure jiro- 

 ducing only ephemeral results and leaving the ground 

 with nothing but beds of bare earth for the rest of the 

 year. 



But do the majority of people using the bedding nut 



system really prefer it?' The present trend of ide.-is jjoints 

 somew hat to the contrary. The change in viewpoint has 

 been long and slow in coming. For this there have been 

 manv reasons. In the past there have been too many 

 gardeners wdio appear to have known of nothing but bed- 

 ding plants wherewith to create a floral display, and in 

 manv sections today there is little or nothing else seen. 

 The movement towards gardening with hardy jjlants has 

 come more from owners than from professional gardai- 

 ers. Estate owners have for years been complaining of 

 the difficulty in obtaining men capable of planting and 

 maintaining a garden of herbaceous perennials. Too 

 manv look upon greenhouse plants as the only ones 

 worth much trouble and have been in the habit of 

 despising hardy j)erennials, stigmatizing them as weeds. 



Another reason why flower gardening with hardy 

 perennials has been for so long conspicuous by its ab- 

 sence is due to the fact that so many landscape architects 

 possess such a meager knowledge of them that they are 

 apparentlv unable to grasp the many ways in wdiich these 

 subjects can be used. Plantings of trees and shrubs are 

 arranged for by the acre, while at the same time herbace- 

 ous perennials are upon the smallest possible scale or are 

 not provided for at all in their landscape plans. 



In this connection, as well as in others, the object les- 

 sons seen in public parks are the reverse of what they 

 should be. The introduction of politics into appointments 

 for almost every public office is the more ridiculous when 

 looked at from the point of view taken by a lover of 

 natural beauty ; ridiculousness which becomes a glaring 

 farce when some ap]3<nntments to the office of park super- 

 intendents are considered. Many of these political ai> 

 pointees look upon their position as a means of making 

 as much money as possible before the other party comes 

 into power : they have no sympathy or knowdedge of their 

 work and none of that love of it for its own sake which 

 all true gardeners ijosscss. 



I'ulilic [larks should be places where the people can see 

 the best and highest embodiment of garden art. and the 

 most advanced methods of plant culture. Unfortunately, 

 howe\cr. it is too often the case that the only lessons to 

 be learned is how not to do things. 



In those instances where herbaceous perennials are used 

 in public gardens the plantings are generally insignificant, 

 upon too small a scale and entirely out of projiortion with 

 other things. The use of merely a dozen or so s]5ecies of 

 ]5erennials in some out of the way corner w hen there are 

 acres of trees, shrubs and huge beds of gaudy bedding 

 plants is not calculated to cause people to realize the wide 

 possibilities of gardening with hardy plants. Nature 

 teaches differently by its masses of Asters, (iolden Rod, 

 etc., etc.. which every one having the opportunity of see- 

 ing is delighted with. Why not create such-like features 

 in city ])arks. and bring natural beauties into the heart of 

 densely i)o])ulated districts, the inhabitants of which rarely 

 see the real country? 



( )f course dealing with these h.irdy |H'reinii;ils requires 

 a much wider horticultural knowdedge and experience 

 than that necessary for handling ordinary ephemerid bid- 

 ding plants. 



The miivenient in the direction of using hardy plinits 

 ;inil less glass w'hich has lieen gradually increasing in in- 

 tensity, has undoubtedly come to stay; for the reason that 

 il is more economical when comjiared with results; more 

 attractive the year through to all garden lovers and en- 



