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THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



HERBACEOUS PLANT NOTES. 



HE fall planting of perennials should 

 be attended to as soon as possible; 

 delay until colder weather sets in 

 is not advisable, because the plants 

 may not then have time to form new roots 

 and establish themselves firmly in their new 

 quarters before hard frost stops their 

 growth. Many of the hardiest and coarser 

 growers may occasionally come out all 

 right when planted late, but with the more 

 delicate dwarf species we should always be 

 most careful. When plants have not taken 

 a firm foothold in the soil the frost will lift 

 them, exposing the crowns and often a part 

 of the roots. Mulching and shading the 

 beds will act as a preventative against this 

 evil and it is advisable to apply this mulch 

 to all fall-planted stock, even to the early 

 plantings. 



Dividing into very small pieces should 

 never be practised in fall. Rare things are 

 better left alone until spring, when they may 

 be divided into single eyes if necessary, with 

 much more safety. All plants which form 

 soft, thick, fleshy roots are more liable to 

 decay over winter when mutilated by divis- 

 ion ; therefore, it is better to wait with this 

 operation until next April or May. 



Grasses like eulalias and erianthuses, do 

 not usually take kindly to transplanting 

 during the fall months ; neither do the 

 hybrid pyrethrums, especially when the 

 clumps are to be divided. When plants 

 have been specially prepared for fall plant- 

 ing, by dividing in spring or earlysummer, it 

 is quite a different case. We then have small 

 clumps, which in most instances can be 

 taken up with a ball. Their roots are not 

 mutilated by division and they quickly take 

 a firm hold in the soil. With such voungf 



and vigorous material we run no risk of 

 failure and are enabled to produce a fine 

 show in a bed, the border or a rockery in 

 the coming season. 



Primroses, auriculas, campanulas, aubi-i- 

 etias, veronicas, helianthemums, aquilegias, 

 silenes, lychnises, iberises, alyssums, hep- 

 aticas, lobelias, omphalodes, polemoniums, 

 rudbeckias or arabises and a host of other 

 things may he used to advantage for plant- 

 ing in beds by themselves or intermixed. 

 Some of them can remain in their places for 

 a number of years undisturbed ; others, if 

 so desired, may be removed after flowering 

 to make room for other plants. 



For refilling these vacancies we need not 

 necessarily rely on bedding stock of other 

 potted plants. Many of our later blooming 

 hardy plants will bear removal after growth 

 is considerably advanced if we are a liltle 

 careful with them. I have successfully 

 moved heleniums, phloxes, helianthuses, 

 boltonias, cedronellas, lythrums, asters^ 

 rudbeckias, veronicas and others in July and 

 August, while in full, vigorous growth. 

 Two or three very liberal waterings assisted 

 materially in the speedy recovery of the 

 plants ; the soft tips invariably stood erect 

 by the next morning and remained in that 

 position without any further attendance. 



Of course all these plants were dug up 

 carefully with a ball of earth, otherwise they 

 surely would have suff"ered more or less, 

 and where the plants ha,ve to be a long 

 while out of the ground or transported to a 

 distant point it is out of the question to 

 refill beds in this manner, but in most places 

 where perennials are grown in quantity such 

 stock for this purpose is nearly always avail- 

 able. — Aynerican Florist. 



