Garden Perennials That Thrive Under Neglect 



By Stephen F. Hamblin, Massachusetts. 



There is a great difference in the amount of attention 

 that perennial herbs in the garden require for a fair 

 amount of growth and a good bloom. I do not refer to 

 common wild flowers that may be introduced near the 

 house, for such will of course do very well when left to 

 themselves, if planted in proper soil. But a great many 

 plants, once brought from distant lands, or from other 

 parts of our country, are so sturdy of growth and in- 

 different to soil conditions that they are permanent 

 features of home grounds when once properly planted, 

 even if grass is allowed to try to choke them, and fertilizer 

 and cultivation are unknown. 



I don't mean that they are used in "'wild gardening" 

 experiments, nor planted in "any old place" to shift for 

 themselves, but started in garden soil and intended to 

 give a garden effect. These are the ones that persist, but 

 do not spread, in old gardens long after the garden 

 builders, and the house that sheltered them, have moulded 

 in dust. Many a grass-grown "old-fashioned garden" 

 still has every year thrifty clumps of Creeping Phlox, 

 Peony, German Iris, Thread Lily, and others. 



For several }ears I have been interested in an "old- 

 fashioned garden" in j\lassachusetts where absolutely 

 no care has been given to the plants for five years — not 

 a weed has been pulled, not a plant removed, nor has the 

 spade been used to loosen the soil or reset plants that have 

 become crowded or starved. They have been left to fight 

 their own way among each other. A heavy loam that 

 bakes dry in summer and becomes soggy in winter makes 

 the struggle for existence much harder. 



Some of the plants have been in place at least ten 

 years, and formerly they were cultivated after a fashion. 

 Ijut never enough for their best development. No two 

 garden spots ever oft'er the same conditions for plant 

 growth, but this list will be found fairly representative 

 of results in other ])lantings. Though in this garden there 

 are shady spots, due to the presence of large shrubs, 

 these notes were taken on plants that had nearly full sun. 

 This list has little meaning when taken by itself, or as 

 absolute test of what plants will do under crowded condi- 

 tions, for many plants failed here that in other places will 

 do verv well. Even with the same piece of ground there 

 would have been more survivals had there not been so 

 many shrubs there. A good many native plants, not men- 

 tioned in the list as they would naturally be self-support- 

 ing, were planted in this garden, and their vigor has been 

 at" the expense of the garden-like sorts. The biennials 

 mentioned are about as numerous as when planted some 

 six years ago, but they are not in the places where planted, 

 but' push up among the lower herbs and between the 

 shrtibs. This shows their power of self sowing; in a 

 more open garden they would have increased more. 



The negative list of those that failed is the least val- 

 uable for another spot w^ould give the plants dift'erent 

 conditions. Those that failed this time to hold their own 

 were low growers that were smothered, spreading herbs 

 that crowded themselves and should have been divided, 

 or free bloomers that exhaust themselves. They are all 

 har(h and thrifty, but when under cultivation, not when 

 left to themselves utterly. 



Those that stayed and bloom nearly as well this year 

 as they did five years ago are to be particularly com- 

 mended for their strong constitutions, for herbs that can 

 survive the treatment they got in that place will never 

 fail anyone under the ordinary conditions of anv garden. 

 Thev mav be made the n^ainstay of any iilanting. The 



list can be made longer, for only a part of the plants seen 

 in gardens were tried here, though perhaps at the time 

 of planting the preference was given to the sjiecies that 

 have been favorites in gardens for at least a half century. 



PLANTS THAT THRIVE AFTER FIVE YEARS' NEGLECT. 

 Tall Herbs. 



Garden LiipiiK" — Lupiims iiulyi)liylUis — liliu-. white, pink. 

 Balloon -flower — Platytodon yrandifloruni — lilue. wliite. 

 German Iris — Iiis fiermanica — various colors. 

 Yellow flay — Iris psendaconis — yellow. 

 Plaited Flajj; — Iris plicata Jlad. Chereau — pale lilne. 

 Silierian Iris — Iris sibirica — blue, wliite. 



Late Siberian Iris — Iris sanyninea. and var. Snow Queen — blue, 

 wliite. 



Lemon Day lily — Henierooallis flava — yellow. 



Doable Tawny Daylily — Hemercocallis fulva fl. pi. — orange. 



Late Lemon Daylily — Hemeroeallis Thuiibergii — yellow. 



Orange Daylily — llemeroealli.s Dnmortieri — orange. 



Tiger Lily — Lilinm tigriiinm — orange. 



Yellow Japanese Lily — Lilinm llenryi — yellow. 



Garden Peony — Paeonia albiflora— red to wliite. 



Solomon's seal — Polygonatum niultiflorum — wliite. 



Gasplant — Diotamnns albns — pink and white. 



Perennial Pea — Latliyrus latifolius — pink, white. 



Oriental Poppy — Papaver orientate — scarlet. 



Peachleaf Belltlowor — Campaiinla persieifolia — bine, white. 



Scarlet Lightning — Lyclinis chalcedoniea — scarlet. 



(iarden Phlox — Plilox paniculata — various. 



Xew England Aster — Aster no\'a-angliac — jinrple. rose. 



Tickseed — Coi eopsis lanceolta — yellow. 



Golden Glow — Pudbei'kia laciniata fl. pi. — yellow. 



Oriental Larkspur — Delphinium formosum — bine. 



Jleadow Sage — .Salvia pratensis — blue. 



Spider Lily — Tradescantia virginica — blue, white. 



White Snakeroot — Eupatorium urticifoHum — wliite. 



Amsonia — Amsonia Taliernaemontan.a — blue. 



Tliread Lily — Yucca fllameiitosa — white. 



Low Herbs. 

 Bloodroot — Sanguinaria canadensis — white. 

 Dutch Crocus — t'rocns vermis — blue, white. 

 Lily-of-the-\ alley — Convallaria ma j alls — white. 

 Star-of-Bethlehem — Ornithogalum umliellatum — wliite. 

 Daflodil — Narcissus Psuedo-Xarcissus Von Sion— yellow 

 Poet's Xarcissus — Narcissus poeticus — white. 

 Grape Hyacinth — Muscari botryoides — blue. 

 Autumn Crocus — Crocus speciosus — blue. 

 Rock Speedwell — Veronica rupestris — blue. 

 Common Speedwell — Veronica othcianalis — blue. 

 Jlyrtle — Vinca minor — blue. 

 Darwin Tulips — Tulipa Gesneriana — various. 

 Creejiing Thyme — Tliymus .Serpyllum — pink. 

 Silver-bell — Stellaria Holostea — white. 

 Scotch Pink — Dianthus jilumarius — pink, white. 

 Showy Stoiiecrop — Sedui i spectabile — pink. 

 Creeping Phlox — Phlox ^ jbulata — pink, white. 

 Creeping Stonecrop — ,Sed m stolonifernm — pink. 

 Yellow Stonecrop — Sedum Aizoon — yellow. 

 Greek Valerian — Polenionium reptans — blue. 

 Meadow Safl'ron — Colchicuni autumnale — [link, white. 

 Chinees Larkspur — Del|iliinium grandillorum — blue, white. 

 Crested Iris — Iris cristata — blue. 

 Dwarf Iris — Iris pumila — blue. 

 White Plantain lily — Hosta plantaginea — white. 

 Lance-leaf Plantain-lily — Hosta lancifolia — blue. 

 Sweet Violet — ^'iola odorata — lilue. 



Biennials That Self-Sow. 

 Sweet Rocket — Hes|ieris niatronalis — ]iink. ]iurple. wliite 

 Columbine — Aquilegia vulgaris — purple, white. 

 Feverfew — Chrysanthemum Parthenium — white. 

 Sweet William — Dianthus barbatus — various. 

 Cliange Coneflower — Rudbeckia fulgida — orange. 



Perennials Lost After Five Years of Neglect. 



.Tapanese Iris— Iris Kaein]ifeii. 



Perennial Flax — Linuni pereinie. 



Persian Daisy — Chrysanthemum coccineum. 



Blanket-flower — Gaillardia aristata. 



White Boltonia — Boltcnia asteroi(!es. 



