58 SATURDAY IN MY GARDEN 



It lies in the cultivation of that class of plants known as hardy 

 perennials. No finer sight can be imagined than a well-stocked 

 herbaceous border when the flowers are at their best in July, 

 August, and September such a one as you can see every year at 

 Hampton Court Palace or in Kew Gardens. The formal beds of 

 scarlet geraniums, yellow calceolarias, and blue lobelia, beloved 

 of the jobbing gardener, pale into insignificance beside the stately 

 grandeur of well-grown perennials. The initial cost of such plants 

 hardly exceeds that of more formal bedding subjects, and once it 

 has been overcome the owner of a group of hardy perennials has 

 the satisfaction of knowing that his purchases possess the merit 

 of permanence. 



The great attraction which the perennial border has for the 

 average amateur gardener is surely that when once it has been 

 well and truly planted that is to say, when a suitable soil medium 

 has been provided, and due attention has been paid to the re- 

 quirements of the plants in regard to disposition and situation 

 it demands comparatively little attention, save for an occasional 

 loosening of the surface soil with fork or hoe, and an annual top- 

 dressing of littery manure. The plants take care of themselves. 

 iThey thrust their fresh green spikes through the soil with the 

 advent of sunny days in February, they attain the zenith of their 

 beauty in summer and early autumn, and then die down to be 

 stirred into activity again and again as season follows season. 



First of all, in planting a perennial border and, indeed, in 

 every other branch of gardening comes the preparation of the 

 soil. In the well-ordered garden this should have been accom- 

 plished before Christmas ; but where the opportunity for this has 

 not been forthcoming the work of digging and planting may be 

 carried on in suitable weather with perfectly satisfactory results 

 until the middle of April. To delay until the autumn would be 

 to waste precious months of bloom ; indeed, I am not sure that it 

 is not better in the long run to plant the perennial border after 

 the sun has had time to warm the ground in March and April and 

 to dispel the chill damp of winter rains and snows. The small 

 pieces of root and the young plants that are purchased from the 



