PERENNIALS 97 



familiar bulbs, it is rare to see any plants but 

 pansies, English daisies, arabis and forget-me-not 

 bedded out in spring. There is a long list to 

 choose from, without touching the doubtful flower 

 such as various kinds of ranunculus and anemone. 



It is not an expensive form of gardening, if one 

 has the time for the additional labor required. 

 Seed of perennials does not cost a great deal and 

 as soon as a stock is started, propagation by cut- 

 tings uses up no money and very little time. 



When seed is purchased, secure the very best 

 obtainable. This costs more, but is worth every 

 bit of the difference. Americans are apt to imagine 

 that they are paying a high price for seed when 

 they exchange a dime for a packet and to regard 

 a nickel as a sort of standard price. The Eng- 

 lish, on the other hand, think nothing of paying 

 the -equivalent of twenty- four, thirty-six and forty- 

 eight cents a packet; they know what superior 

 seed means and the choicest is never too good. 



Seed is the best means of securing some of the 

 perennials that are not in the American trade. Not 

 only is the risk of importing plants done away with, 

 but specimens born here are better fitted to stand 

 the climate. One of the few American alpine gar- 

 dens of importance has been thus stocked. Aside 

 from this, the question of using seed depends a 

 great deal on circumstances. It is the quickest 

 way of getting a considerable quantity of larkspur, 

 Iris pseudo-acorns, aubrietia, Baptisia australis, 

 blackberry lily (Pardanthus sinensis), oriental 



