32 THE GARDEN, YOU, AND I 



If money is not an object to the planter, she may begin 

 by buying plants to stock her beds, always remem- 

 bering that if these thrive, they must be thinned out or 

 the clumps subdivided every few years, as in the case 

 of hybrid phloxes, chrysanthemums, etc., or else dug 

 up bodily and reset; for if this is not done, smaller 

 flowers with poorer colours will be the result. 



The foxglove, one of the easily raised and very hardy 

 plants, of majestic mien and great landscape value, 

 will go on growing in one location for many years ; but 

 if you watch closely, you will find that it is rarely the 

 original plant that has survived, but a seedling from it 

 that has sprung up unobserved under the sheltering 

 leaves of its parent. The old plant grows thick at the 

 juncture of root stock and leaf, the action of the frost 

 furrows and splits it, water or slugs gain an entrance, 

 and it disappears, the younger growth taking its place. 

 Especially true is this also of hollyhocks. The lark- 

 spurs have different roots and more underground vigour, 

 and all tap- rooted herbs hold their own well, the dif- 

 ficulty being to curb their spreading and undermining 

 their border companions. 



It is conditions like these that keep the gardener 

 of hardy things ever on the alert. Beds for annuals 

 or florists' plants are thoroughly dug and graded each 



