28 FLOWER GARDENING 



Herbaceous perennials are the largest class of 

 garden plants and because of their durability they 

 are the most valuable one. Their life runs on 

 indefinitely; two or three generations may see a 

 peony or fraxinella growing in the same spot. 

 It scarcely can be said that the individual lives years 

 without number, as in the case of a tree. Often 

 there is the appearance of this when old plants 

 have not been disturbed; but the fact is that the 

 root system expands from year to year, forming 

 new crowns for blooming. With the development 

 of the new comes a more or less gradual dissolu- 

 tion of the old, according to the nature of the plant. 

 Bulbs create new units as the old ones die and 

 shrink and wither away. 



Whatever is herbaceous is supposed to die down 

 to the ground in winter. This many herbaceous 

 perennials fail to do. Not a few, such as the pinks 

 and the creeping phloxes, have evergreen foliage 

 which is a very fortunate thing indeed. That 

 beautiful St. John's wort, Hypericum Moserianum, 

 is known as herbaceous, but is more like a dwarf 

 shrub. 



Annuals and biennials have a root system that 

 generally permits of no division. They are there- 

 fore grown from seed; or, in certain cases, from 

 cuttings. The more nearly the root is a long tap 

 with very fine rootlets, the more difficult transplant- 

 ing becomes; that is why it is advisable to sow the 

 seed of annual poppies, sweet alyssum and mignon- 

 ette where the plants can remain, the surplus being 



