48 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



England, bringing with them a few seeds of garden pinks, and other 

 old-fashioned garden flowers, to the present day. 



When we study the history of gardening in America we find that 

 many changes have been brought about from time to time, es- 

 pecially in the types of plants used in beds and borders for orna- 

 mental purposes. These changes might be termed fashions in 

 plants. The most important change occurred with the introduc- 

 tion of the so-called bedding plants at the time of the Centennial 

 Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876. These showy plants appealed 

 strongly to the public and from that time on the so-called old 

 fashioned flowers which our grandmothers had been growing with 

 good results for years and years, came into disfavor with the 

 gardener, especially the home gardener. Even twenty years ago 

 there were few borders outside of those planted by professional 

 gardeners on private estates and in public parks. 



With the adoption of the naturalistic style of landscape gardening 

 a decided change occurred not only in the type of materials used, 

 but also in the manner of planting, and the last ten years has seen 

 a growing interest in the so-called old-fashioned hardy plants 

 which are technically known as hardy herbaceous perennials, and 

 never have they been so highly esteemed as they are at the present 

 time. Everyone who is fortunate enough to have even a small 

 garden should devote at least part of it to hardy plants. 



The reasons for this popularity are obvious. First of all, they 

 are plants that live from year to year. Although the tops die off 

 at the end of the growing season, new growths come from parts 

 underground the following season. This of course gives the garden 

 a feeling of permanency and by selecting the proper varieties the 

 disappearing flowers will be continuously replaced by new ones. 

 The colors of the varieties must be carefully studied as the color 

 scheme is one of the primary features of the garden. The season 

 of flowering must also be studied in order that the plants may be 

 arranged so as to avoid clashes in color and so as to have an equality 

 of flowers over the entire season. Even though the border is 

 planned with utmost care, it is not always possible to have the 

 entire border a mass of color throughout the season, and as already 

 stated, in planning the perennial border a few clumps of spring- 

 flowering bulbs such as Snowdrops, Scillas, etc., and masses of 



