CONCERNING HARDY PLANTS 31 



topped by the leaves that had drifted in and been left 

 undisturbed, made a better winter blanket than many 

 people furnish to their hardy plants, the word hardy 

 as applied to the infinite variety of modern herbaceous 

 plants as produced by selection and hybridization not 

 being perfectly understood. 



While a wise selection of flowering shrubs and truly 

 hardy roses will, if properly planted, pruned, and fer- 

 tilized, live for many years, certain varieties even out- 

 lasting more than one human generation, the modern 

 hardy perennial and biennial of many species and sump- 

 tuous effects must be watched and treated with almost as 

 much attention as the so-called bedding-plants demand 

 in order to bring about the best results. 



The common idea, fostered by inexperience, and also, 

 I'm sorry to say, by what Mary Penrose dubs Garden 

 Goozle, that a hardy garden once planted is a thing 

 accomplished for life, is an error tending to bitter dis- 

 appointment. If we would have a satisfactory garden 

 of any sort, we must in our turn follow Nature, who never 

 rests in her processes, never even sleeping without a 

 purpose. But if fairly understood, looked squarely 

 in the face, and treated intelligently, the hardy garden, 

 supplemented here and there with annual flowers, is 

 more than worth while and a perpetual source of joy. 



