86 FLOWER GARDENING 



and an annual top dressing of fine manure between 

 the plants, the garden can be kept in good shape 

 indefinitely. Sheep manure, which may be used 

 sparingly for roses, is excellent for surface appli- 

 cation and bone meal is worked into the soil with 

 fine results. One of the best of commercial fer- 

 tilizers for perennials is a mixture of bone, blood 

 and potash; a peony will thank you for a handful 

 of it in the spring. 



No hardy garden is made in a day, always ex- 

 cepting the comparatively few products of carte 

 blanche orders. Even when all laid out at once, 

 the plantings call for a considerable amount of 

 reshaping. Then again, some of the finest peren- 

 nials refuse to be at their best for two or three 

 years unless there is the unusual and extravagant 

 expedient of making use of large clumps which 

 soon will have to be taken up and divided, as 

 they are virtually ready for that when set out. 



The sensible plan is to make the hardy garden 

 a vision of three or four years hence and com- 

 promise with the springs, summers and autumns 

 that come before. The plan in detail is this: 

 Plant shrubs, roses, peonies and fraxinella far 

 enough apart to allow for the maximum expan- 

 sion. It is just as well, though less imperative, to 

 follow the same rule with funkias, bleeding heart 

 and Lythrum superbum. In the spaces between 

 the plants grow little colonies of spring bulbs, to 

 be followed by transplanted annuals, until the time 

 comes when they are not needed; the bulbs can 



