Perennials 



29 



so that at one time the entire border appears attractive with flowers of one 

 kind and of one or perhaps two colours, to be followed by a flower of another 

 colour. This method changes the colour eftect of the whole border almost 

 every week, but it of course cannot give the eftect of a solid mass of flowers, 

 as would be the case if the same list were planted, each kind in a plot by itself. 

 A list for this purpose to follow each other quite closely through the summer 

 might be: Yellow daffodils, purple German iris, rose and white peonies, 

 scarlet Oriental poppies, Japanese ins (white, with pencilHngs of colour), 

 yellow day-lilies, monardas (red), phlox (white, or nearly so), rudbeckias 

 (yellow), purple New England 

 aster, and hardy pompon 

 chrysanthemum (pink and 

 white). If a larger list, with 

 plants of several colours ap- 

 pearing at the same season is 

 used, the eftect is entirely dif- 

 ferent, and care will be needed 

 to obtain the more pleasing 

 contrasts of colour. 



The preparation of the 

 beds for perennials should be 

 very thorough, especially as 

 the soil cannot be deeply dug 

 or greatly enriched afterward. 

 If the subsoil does not provide 

 sufficient drainage to prevent 

 water staying on the surface 

 of the ground or the soil from becoming excessively wet during the 

 rainier seasons, then under-drainage to a depth of at least two and a 

 half feet will be necessary. 



A first-class perennial bed, suited to sustain a large variety of plants 

 in vigorous growth, should have the ground made loose to a depth of two 

 feet. It would be best to have the entire two feet made up of surface soil, 

 but it is not necessary. A satisfactory method is to throw oft" the surface 

 soil and then dig over the subsoil and mix with it a fair amount of manure, 

 bone and wood ashes. If the soil is clayey or sour there is nothing better 

 than screened coal ashes to make its condition satisfactory. An application 



iperial, an old-time garden favourin 

 with a rush in early spring 



,'hich comes up 



