PERENNIALS 99 



garden than in their native haunts. Separate every 

 few years; or every year, if conditions seem to 

 warrant it. This for the majority of perennials; 

 divide peonies every seventh year and let frax- 

 inella and the everlasting pea alone indefinitely 

 unless a transfer is absolutely necessary. 



It is a custom, but one altogether too infrequent, 

 to plant some of the perennials generally grown 

 from seed in pots. This seems to be the only 

 way to get perfection out of the chimney bell- 

 flower (Campanula pyramid alts). In pots the 

 spikes of blue or white blossoms will shoot up 

 five or six feet and there is nothing more beau- 

 tiful for an early summer decorative change in 

 the conservatory or for a porch or hall plant. All 

 of the hardy primulas, but more particularly the 

 English, Cashmere and Siebold primroses, the giant 

 cowslip, the polyanthus and the border auricula, 

 are remarkably handsome little pot plants for 

 March and April indoors. The choicer pyreth- 

 rums, trollius, Phlox divaricata and many of the 

 alpines are quite as handsome in their way. All 

 of the plants may be set out in the garden after 

 blooming, though the chimney bellflower is gen- 

 erally treated as a biennial and thrown away after 

 blooming. 



There are two more uses for potted perennials. 

 One is to keep a reserve store for filling gaps in 

 the garden and the other is to solve the problem 

 of those perennials, including some bulbous and 

 tuberous plants, that are unreliably hardy if at all. 



