2o6 The American Flower Garden 



Thinning out and transplanting seedlings should be done in 

 the late afternoon or on a cloudy day. Always water them before 

 and after moving. Baby plants become the objects of one s keen 

 est concern. They are the pets of a place. Their sturdy growth 

 is a matter to boast about. When a new garden is to be filled 

 most economically, when bare spots in the border need beautify 

 ing, when you want to give a friend some of your favourite plants, 

 when there is a chance to secure from a neighbour some coveted 

 new perennial in exchange for a few seedlings, how joyfully you 

 seize a trowel and lift the big, healthy youngsters into a basket 

 with something akin to parental pride! Miss Mitford was not the 

 only one to delight in having &quot;a flower in a friend s garden.&quot; 

 A young amateur grew over two hundred lusty plants of exquis 

 ite tall white columbine from seed stalks that had been cut to be 

 thrown away in a neighbour s border. The same quantity of less 

 sturdy and fresh plants, if bought from a commercial dealer who 

 had not only to grow, but to catalogue, advertise and pack them, 

 would be cheap at fifteen dollars. For the best effects in peren 

 nial planting one needs a quantity of each kind of choice plant, 

 rather than a sample of many inferior kinds. 



Well-stocked gardens need thinning out every year if the 

 plants are not to choke one another to death. Degeneracy and 

 death ensue in a miser s garden. Perennials conduce to friend 

 liness. There is often a chance to almost stock a new border 

 from the overflow from an old one in the neighbourhood; and, 

 usually, the owner is only too glad to find an appreciative recipient. 

 No matter how rampant one s sweet Williams or coreopsis become, 

 who can bear to consign their multitudinous offspring to the 

 compost heap ? By dividing with a sharp spade the roots of 

 peonies, irises, violets, lilies-of-the-valley and other plants that 



