Herbaceous Plants for the Amateur 



I DO not know of any class of orna- 

 mental plants more useful and suitable 

 for the amateur to try his or her skill 

 in growing than the herbaceous peren- 

 nials. I might say that, as a class, they 

 do not receive the attention that their 

 beautyand value deserve, more attention 

 being paid to bedding out plants and 

 annuals; but this neglect is passing 

 away, and even professional florists are 

 paying attention to their cultivation in 

 a much more lively manner than former- 

 ly. To the amateur they are particular- 

 ly desirable, being perfectly hardy, easy 

 of cultivation and, once planted, they are 

 permanent. They possess a dignity 

 and force which no annuals have, and 

 are as effective and beautiful in color as 

 one could desire. 



mm^^m 



A Nice Clump of Campanula 



The best method of planting them is 

 in groups or masses. This is nature's 

 plan of growing anything. She is always 

 prodigal when she does the planting, 

 tnd although she does not sometimes 

 >uit our convenience as to where she 

 does plant, yet the effect is always charm- 

 ing if the masses are only the commonest 

 weeds, such as burdocks, thistles or 

 dandelions. 



J. McPHerson Ross, Toronto 



Whatever planting you may do, aim 

 to make it impressive, aim to make an 

 effect, aim to make a picture, so that 

 the eye of the least observant may be 

 struck by its beauty, and the sensation 

 of pleasure produced may linger long in 

 the memory after the scene has passed 

 from their View. How often have we 

 heard such expressions as : " Oh ! What 

 a beautiful mass of lilies," or "What a 

 show of gladioli ! " This is the result of 

 effective planting. 



Group whatever you plant in masses 

 without definite form. Always avoid 

 circles, or squares, or rows, and by keep- 

 ing this in mind when planting you 

 suggest the effect of the plants growing 

 and spreading naturally. Art is most 

 effective when best concealed. The 

 average effect of planting is meaningless. 

 The beauty of the whole is lost in so 

 much detail or, in other words, a great 

 deal of the public indifference to herbac- 

 eous plants is owing to this indiscriminate 

 planting, this hit and miss style, that 

 has prevailed in the past. 



KINDS TO PLANT 



For the amateur's sake we are going 

 to recommend only a few varieties, as 

 we know that the average amateur is 

 always ambitious and would like to 

 plant everything he finds in the catalog. 

 Have patience and make haste slowly. 

 Try the simplest and easiest of cultiva- 

 tion at first, then as you gain in ex- 

 perience and skill from the cultivation 

 of the few, you may proceed in joy and 

 confidence to the many. Do not forget 

 the effect already mentioned. It is 

 gained only by planting a group of three 

 or four or half a dozen of one kind. 

 Never a single specimen. It would be 

 better as a whole to plant twenty-five 

 plants of a single variety than to plant 

 single specimens of twenty-five varieties. 



'^'- ' BLEEDING HEART ■ 



One of the easiest of all herbaceous 

 plants to grow is the bleeding heart or 

 dielytra — thrives in any situation, is 

 handsome in foliage, perfectly hardy, 

 coming into bloom very early in spring, 

 is beautiful when in flower. The plant 

 itself attains quite a size. When fully 

 grown it stands over three feet, and 

 quite ample in circumference. Covered 

 with its long racemes of pendant 

 pink and white flowers it is a charm- 

 ing plant as a single specimen on 

 the lawn and presents, as a group of 

 four or five plants, quite a formidable 

 mass of foliage and flowers. A group 

 like this would perhaps take up too much 

 space in small gardens, but, in large 

 areas, it? appears to great advantage. 

 It increaseseasily by division of the roots 



and makes a beautiful pot plant when 

 forced under glass. 



PERENNIAL PHLOX 



The next to recommend is the peren- 

 nial phlox. If I were confined to^a 



Give Columbines a Place in the Garden 



choice of only one plant for my garden, 

 I would select the phlox. Of this plant 

 there are two classes — tall growing and 

 dwarf growing. There are countless 

 varieties of this beautiful free-blooming 

 flower. To get a selection the amateur 

 is advised to go to his nearest florist and 

 get his list. The most effective colors 

 are white and pink. Plant the tall 

 varieties in the centre or at the back of 

 the bed and keep the dwarf kinds for 

 the front or outside. This arrangement 

 would produce a bank of bloom. The 

 phlox comes early into flower. The 

 dwarf phlox is one of the earliest of 

 gardening flowers, and is a welcome 

 plant when it does bloom after the 

 dreary season of winter. I have refer- 

 ence, however, mainly to the other 

 classes whose flowering season extends 

 nearly over the summer. If the flower- 

 ing spikes are cut back there will come 

 a lateral growth of flowering spikes 

 which prolongs their flowering season. 

 The phlox requires dividing and re- 

 planting every three or four years. If 

 left any longer it rapidly deteriorates in 

 size of floret and in beauty of color. 



Next to the phlox we have the pieony, 

 the rhododendron of Canadian gardens. 



