SOME GOOD HERBACEOUS I'ERENNIALS. 



geous Oriental poppy one of our most 

 striking and showy garden flowers. The 

 great flowers 6 to 8 inches across, dark 

 scarlet in color are held well up above 

 the leaves on long leafy stocks. Unfor- 

 tunately the flowering season is short, two 

 or three weeks in June and their glory is 

 gone, though some years they show an 

 odd bloom during the summer. They 

 also can easily be grown from seed and 

 are quite hardy. 



Doronicum. — A very desirable peren- 

 nial, that is not as well known as it should 

 be, is the tall Leopards' bane, Doronicum 

 phintagineum excelsum, a very early 

 blooming yellow composite, coming into 

 flower early in May, and lasting two to 

 three months. The large flowers about 

 4 inches across, are borne on sparsely 

 leafy branching stems three to four feet 

 high, rising from a large cluster of heart- 

 shaped leaves on long petioles : this is de- 

 cidedly the best yellow composite. An- 

 other Leopards' bane is I). Caucasicum, 

 not so large a plant or flower but other- 

 wise much like ii, both are usually propa- 

 gated by division in spring or fall. 



Helianthus Multiflorus fl. pi. — A de- 

 servedly popular autumn flowering yel- 

 low perennial is the double sunflower, 

 rather rough in leaf and stalk to make a 

 good cutting flower, but very effective in 

 the garden. The flowers are from three 

 to four inches across, a good rich yellow, 

 perfectly double, and last a long time 

 after opening. In bloom from August 

 till frost comes. It has not proved per- 

 fectly hardy here and requires the pro- 

 tection of a good mulch of manure dur- 

 ing the winter. 



Platycodon graiidiflontm — Chinese 

 Bellflower. — The best blue perennial we 

 have, grows from two to three feet high 

 and is covered from middle of July till 

 October with deep blue bell-shaped flow- 

 ers, from two to three inches in diameter, 

 perfectly hardy and easily grown from 



seed. If planted in May it will flower 

 abundantly the following year. There 

 is a white form that is not so desirable, 

 a slight tinge of blue gives it a faded 

 look. 



The genus Spiraa furnishes some 

 of our very best perennials. Among the 

 shrubby species Van Houtti, Burmalda, 

 and many others are well worth growing 

 when space will permit. The best of 

 the herbaceous species are the following: 

 Spiraa Ulinaria Jl. pi.. Double-white 

 Meadowsweet. From a dense cluster 

 of root leaves rise leafy stalks about three 

 feet high, covered on the top with a 

 solid mass of creamy-white, fluffy flowers, 

 from about July ist to August 15th. 

 The foliage is quite ornamental before 

 and after flowering, if the flower stalks 

 are cut out alter blooming. It is pro- 

 pagated by division in spring or fall 

 and should be shifted every three or 

 four years, as it increases so rapidly that 

 it is apt to die in the centre of the clump 

 if left too long in the one place. 



S. Venusta, ^^ Queen of the Prairie." — 

 A weaker growing species and does not 

 make such a bushy clump as Ulmaria, but 

 grows about a foot higher, the clusters 

 of flowers are more elongated and are a 

 bright pink in color, season about a week 

 later, decidedly the showiest of the 

 herbaceous spiraeas. 



6'. palmata elegans.— A very graceful 

 plant about three feet high, with flattish 

 clusters ol pink and white flowers, lighter 

 and more delicate in growth than Ul- 

 maria though somewhat of the same 

 habit, it is upon the whole the most 

 beautiful and desirable of the genus. 



Phlox Dicussata. — The new varieties 

 of the old fashioned perennial Phlox 

 have raised it from the position of a 

 very commonplace flower, limited in 

 color and small in size, to that of one 

 of our most valuable perennials. From 

 no other can we get such a mass of color 



69 



