Perennials for a Thought-out Garden 205 



at the outset, and it is some work to transplant it. After frost, 

 cover the bed with coarse stable litter, well shaken out, or autumn 

 leaves kept from blowing off by criss-crossed pea brush laid 

 over them. The thickness of the blanket will depend upon the 

 severity of the climate. If manure that has lost its heat be used 

 for protection and none other should be spread --see that it 

 does not cover the crowns of foxgloves, hollyhocks, sweet Williams 

 or other plants that hold their leaves all winter, for it will cause 

 them to decay. Crown rot is the frequent cause of failure with 

 these plants of the easiest culture. Established plants that have 

 successfully weathered their second summer need no covering 

 south of Washington. 



If one has a coldframe to start seedlings in at midsummer, 

 so much the better; for the protection of the sashes in winter 

 insures a longer period of growth and a larger crop of flowers 

 the next season in consequence. Young plants, started in late 

 summer and compelled to endure a long winter in the open, are 

 not likely to bloom well the first season, which is why people who 

 live in Canada and the northern tier of states, and who have 

 neither coldframes nor hotbeds, do well to plant their biennials 

 and perennials in the open ground as soon as the earth dries out 

 and becomes warm in the spring, when, however, there is apt 

 to be so great a rush of other work that the seedlings simple 

 but insistent wants of weeding and watering cannot always be 

 met. If they are, the gardener is rewarded by a crop of well- 

 established, vigorous plants when the long, cold northern winter 

 must be endured. Some growers prefer to start their perennials 

 in a hotbed with the tomato plants and tender annuals in February 

 or March, but little is gained by the two months of extra labour, 

 as very few will bloom the first summer in any case. 



