Preparing the Beds 17 



it before they are broken down by storms, 

 for once broken it is hard to make a good 

 job of it, especially if left down for some 

 time. Then the growing ends turn up for 

 light and harden in that bent condition. 



If you raise the perennials yourself it 

 is best to grow them one year in a re- 

 serve bed, say in the vegetable garden, be- 

 cause but very few will bloom the first 

 year from seed. Purchased plants should 

 have blossoms the first year, as they are 

 supposed to be one-year-old seedlings or 

 are divisions of old plants. These may 

 be set out in the first position upon ar- 

 rival. Seedlings in the reserve bed may 

 be planted in rows, each row a foot apart, 

 and the plants six inches apart in the 

 rows ; thus planted, they take up but little 

 room and in the early fall or next spring 

 they may be removed to their permanent 

 quarters. 



In transplanting, be sure to expose the 

 roots as little as possible to the sun or 

 drying winds. When plants arrive with 



