PROPAGATING PEKENNIAL FLOWERS. 355 



PROPAGATING PERENNIAL FLOWERS. 



GEO. W. STRAND^ TAYLOR's FALLS. 



Nature has wisely provided for the reproduction and per- 

 petuation of general types and species of plants by one or more 

 of the following methods: spores, seeds, bulbs, corms, tubers, 

 suckers, root sprouts, stolons and rootstocks. , 



By intensive culture and hybridization we have changed 

 many of the general types, and it is to increase the stock of these 

 better types as rapidly as possible that we rely on other methods. 

 For this purpose grafting, budding, layering and cuttings of 

 both top and roots are sometimes resorted to. Until the gen- 

 eral type has become broken, the plants usually come true from 

 seed, and many of these newer types will also thus reproduce 

 themselves. 



Almost every one is familiar with the lily of the valley, the 

 achilleas and- the golden glow, or the rudbeckia, and will hardly 

 need to be told how they are propagated. They increase so 

 rapidly from underground rootstocks as to be soon "crying" foi 

 more room and soon deteriorate if not transplanted or thinned 

 out and fertilized often. 



Peonies, iris, hemerocallis, funkias and bleeding hearts are 

 commonly propagated by division of the roots and crowns. 

 Hence, as they do not spread or grow together as quickly as 

 many of the other perennials they can remain in the same place 

 much longer to advantage, but in nursery propagation they are 

 usually divided every second year' and sometimes oftener. The ' 

 bleeding heart, or dielytra, also grows quite readily from root 

 cuttings — as do the phlox and oriental poppies. 



Lilies have various methods of increasing. All of them re- 

 produce themselves by division of the main bulb as it grows 

 older — which also is the case with tulips. The outside scales of 

 the bulbs are also used to increase the stock of rare varieties. 

 These scales when planted in flats of sandy soil form bulbs 

 on the lower end but are left in the flats until the second season. 

 Some varieties of lilies, like the Elegans, Auratum and Specio- 

 sum, when planted deeply in light soil — as they always should 

 be in this section — form bulblets along the stem under ground. 

 Alany of these mature into bulbs if not damaged, or they may 

 be taken up and grown for a season in flats or a seed bed. The 

 tiger lilies, as is well known, produce their bulblets in the leaf 

 axil, and these should be planted as soon as mature. It takes 

 two or three years for these bulblets to mature to a blooming 

 size. 



