PERENNIAL PLANTS. 



PERENNIAL PLANTS. 



flowers in August, but it is rather 

 tender. P. Cobce'a grows about a 

 foot and a half or two feet high, and 

 produces its large light purple or 

 pinkish flowers in August, and it is 

 also rather tender. P. Scouleri, 

 which grows three feet or four feet 

 high, and produces its purple flow- 

 ers from May to July, is sufirutes- 

 cent, and succeeds either in the open 

 border, or forms a beautiful object 

 against a conservative wall. On the 

 whole, all the species are beautifiil, 

 and none of them are of difficvdt 

 culture. 



Pera'do. — The name for a kind 

 of Holly, a native of Madeira, Plex 

 Perado ; which is only half-hardy 

 in England. It makes, however, a 

 beautiful tree, which will stand with- 

 out protection in the open air if it 

 is grafted standard high on a tree of 

 the Common Holly. 



Perennial Plants 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 by 

 cuttings of the stem. Bulbous 

 plants are perennials, and they are 

 propagated by separating the offsets, 

 v/hich may be considered as a kind 

 of division of the root. Tuberous- 

 rooted plants are propagated by 

 separating the tubers ; and when 

 these tubers ai-e furnished with eyes 

 like the potato, they may be oxxt 

 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 Eanun- 

 culus, each tuber must be separated 

 from the parent plant entire ^dth 

 its bud. The great majority of 

 plants which ornament the miscel- 

 laneous borders of a flower-garden 

 are herbaceous perennials, including 

 xmder this term bulbs and tubers. 

 All the hardy bulbs in a flower-bor- 

 der, except those of the Hyacinth 

 and the Tuhp, should be kept as 

 dry as possible during winter, as 

 they are more liable to be injured 

 by wet than cold; and when they 

 are taken up to remove their offsets, 

 &c., it should be in autumn when 

 the leaves have Avithered, and they 

 should be planted 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 Garden Ranunculus, 

 and the Dahlia, must be taken up 

 ever}" year as soon as they have done 

 flowering, and only replanted just 

 before the growing season com- 

 mences, 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 peren- 

 nials should be taken up and divi- 

 ded when they are growing too 

 large ; and even when division on 

 this account is not necessary, most 

 of the kinds are benefited by taking 

 up and replanting in fresh situa- 

 tions occasionally, on the principle 

 of the rotation of crops. This is, 

 that all plants throw out excremen- 

 titious matter, which is poisonous 

 to themselves, though wholesome 

 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 ; 



