HARDY HERBACEOUS PLANTS 135 



The reader may have long admired such plants as 

 hollyhocks and sunflowers, both in color and in form, 

 but he may not fully realize, until he examines them 

 again, that the foliage is shabby in summer, fading 

 early, and the shape of the growth stiff and formal. 

 And so it goes through the long list of spiraeas, asters, 

 asclepias, milkweeds, campanulas, dahlias, larkspurs, fox- 

 gloves, marsh and rose-mallows, poppies, peonies, rud- 

 beckias, helenium autumnale, chrysanthemums, golden- 

 rods, pyrethrum or chrysanthemum uliginosum — the giant 

 daisies — and salvias. 



Herbaceous spirseas are pretty and feathery in bloom, 

 and should be distinguished from the hard- wooded kinds, 

 like S. thunbergii. Their flowers are excellent, in many 

 cases, for cutting and for fresh bloom, although when 

 out of flower they are not specially attractive. The 

 asters are a lovely family, familiar to many along road- 

 sides of the Eastern and Middle States, the blue color 

 of their masses making a decided and attractive feat- 

 ure in the landscape. Their foliage, however, is not 

 especially effective in the garden, and the same may be 

 said of the milkweeds, which are so fine in the fields, 

 and also concerning the campanulas; but the dahlias 

 should have a moment's longer consideration, because 

 they bloom in late fall. The double dahlia has, unfor- 

 tunately, a stiff, rosette-like flower, and needs staking, 

 which makes it unattractive when out of flower. In 

 form of foliage and flower, the single dahlia is much 

 superior. As a fall flower, the chrysanthemum has great 

 value, on account of the variety and great beauty of its 

 many-shaped and tinted flowers. It should be remem- 

 bered, however, that only a few kinds, of a simple but- 

 ton-like or lightly fringed shape, are entirely hardy, and 



