PERENNIAL PLANTS. 
against a conservative wall. On 
the whole, all the species are beau- 
tiful, and none of them are of diffi- 
cult culture. 
Pera‘po.—The name for a kind 
of Holly, a native of Madeira, Mex | 
Perdado; which is only half-hardy | 
in England. It makes, however, 
a beautiful tree, which will stand 
without protection in the open air, 
if it is grafted standard high, on a 
tree of the Common Holly. 
PERENNIAL Puants are those per- 
manent plants which are not woody, | 
but which generally die down to the 
ground every year and spring up 
again the year following. There are | 
some, however, which are called | 
evergreen perennials, which never 
die down to the ground, such as 
Pinks, Carnations, several kinds of 
Saxifrage, &c. Perennials have the 
great advantage over annuals and 
biennials, that they do not require 
renewal from seed, but are propa- | 
gated by division of the root or divi- | 
sion of the plant. Bulbous plants are 
perennfals, and they are propagated | 
by separating the offsets, which may 
be considered as a kind of division of 
the root. Tuberous-rooted plants are 
propagated by separating the tubers ; 
and when these tubers are furnished 
with eyes like the potato, they may be | 
cut into pieces, preserving an eye to 
each; but when they are without | 
eyes or buds excepting at their upper 
extremity, as in the case of the 
Dahlia and the Garden Ranunculus, 
each tuber must be separated from 
the parent plant entire with its bud. 
‘he great majority of plants which 
ornament the miscellaneous borders 
of a flower-garden are herbaceous 
perennials, including under this term 
bulbs and tubers. All the hardy 
bulbs in a flower-border, except those 
ef the Hyacinth and the Tulip, 
should be kept as dry as possible 
during winter, as they are more 
liable to be injured by wet than 
cold ; and when thev are taken up: 
314 
to remove their offsets, &c., it should 
PERENNIAL PLANTS. 
be in autumn, when the leaves have 
withered, and they should be plant- 
ed again as soon as practicable, as 
they are very apt to be injured by 
damp, &c., if they remain long out 
of the ground. ‘Tubers, on the 
contrary, such as those of the Gar 
den Ranunculus and the Dahha, 
must be taken up every year as soon 
as they have done flowering, and 
only replanted just before the grow- 
ing season commences, as, if left in 
the ground, they are very apt to rot; 
the bulbs of the Hyacinth and the 
Tulip thrive best when treated in 
the same manner. The fibrous- 
rooted perennials should be taken 
up and divided when they are 
growing too large; and even when 
division on this account is not neces- 
sary, most of the kinds are benefited 
by taking up and re-planting in fresh 
situations occasionally, on the prin- 
ciple of the rotation of crops. ‘This 
is, that all plants throw out excre- 
mentitious matter, which is poison- 
ous to themselves, though whole- 
some for other plants; and thus, in 
the course of a few years, the ground 
in which plants grow becomes unfit 
for them. Nature has provided a 
remedy for this by elongating the 
roots of all perennial plants, whether 
ligneous or herbaceous, every year: 
and this is sufficient to prevent trees 
and shrubs in permanent plantations 
from being injured: but from the 
constant digging, &c., in a garden, 
perennial herbaceous plants are very 
seldom permitted to extend their 
roots to a sufficient distance to find 
suitable soil ; and they are therefore 
benefited by taking up and replant- 
ing, or laying down decayed leaves 
or fresh soil over their roots. The 
season for taking up and replanti 
perennial plants should be either is 
autumn after they have done grow- 
ing, or in spring before they begin 
to grow; and if the soil about the 
reots looks black and saturated with 
sail 
