PERENNIALS 89 



an uninterrupted stretch of bloom for approxi- 

 mately nine months of the year; a thin showing 

 at both ends, it is true, but neither quantity nor 

 variety is everything in the flower garden. With 

 coddling, it is possible to extend this stretch 

 through December, January arid February and 

 thus make a complete circle of the year. 



Perennials as a class bloom only once a year. 

 Most adhere to this rule with absolute rigidity; 

 the exceptions usually are early spring flowers that 

 a mild autumn causes to bloom sparsely a few 

 months ahead of time or summer flowers that 

 have a second spurt, often because the first crop 

 of seed has not been allowed to mature. Nor is 

 the average period of perfection of bloom long; 

 sometimes it is lamentably brief and rarely is a 

 perennial so prodigal as the plumy bleeding heart 

 (Dkentra formosa), which has blossoms from 

 spring to autumn. 



The actual time of bloom is fixed only so far 

 as habitat the place where the plant is native 

 is concerned. Even then the season, especially an 

 early or late spring, will shift normality a little 

 one way or the other. In gardens a similar in- 

 exactitude of time, but more of it, is to be noted. 

 Comparatively few perennials are cultivated in re- 

 gions where they grow naturally. Not infrequent- 

 ly there is a marked change of altitude; thus a 

 primula native to the mountainous heights of Switz- 

 erland will bloom earlier in a New York garden, 

 because in the latter *he snow disappears earlier. 



