HARDY HERBACEOUS PLANTS 121 



and cliff sides, but is cultivated in gardens, and happy as the 

 plant seems to be in positions where it can get little moisture, 

 as in dry limestone crevices, experience teaches that it not only 

 grows in the deep, rich soil of cultivated beds, but makes finer 

 plants there than on the walls. It may seem a little surprising, 

 in view of the plant's love for a dry site, but our finest plants 

 have developed on deep, cool, fertile clay. They are best grown 

 as biennials that is, sown at the end of May, thinned, set out 

 a foot apart in a nursery bed when they begin to crowd each 

 other, and planted out in October or November for blooming the 

 following spring. The best selections come quite true from seed. 

 Of singles there are the following : 



Belvoir Castle, yellow. 

 Eastern Queen, dark apricot. 



Faerie Queen, citron. 

 Harbinger, brown. 



Ruby Gem, ruby. 

 Vulcan, dark red. 



The double German Wallflowers are splendid, Stock-like plants, 

 which may be raised from seed ; and the newer Annual Wallflower, 

 which blooms the same year from spring-sown seed, must not be 

 forgotten. 



VAEIOUS HARDY PLANTS 



While the majority of flower gardeners will form their borders 

 and beds principally with the popular plants dealt with in the 

 foregoing notes, some, at least, will also use other flowers. The 

 number of distinct kinds of herbaceous plants is enormous, and 

 some of those which are little known to the great flower-loving 

 public, but are familiar enough to people who make a study of 

 hardy flowers, are extremely beautiful. The fact that many amateurs 

 proceed to absurd extremes, and fling themselves into a state of 

 ecstatic rapture over any plant which happens to be hardy and 

 herbaceous, should not deter sensible and level-headed people from 

 making themselves acquainted with really beautiful and worthy 

 plants. Let us pick out a few of the best of the less-known 

 hardy flowers. If we put them into three sections dwarf (not 



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