32 Making a Garden of Perennials 



of the forsythia, make a charming picture. 

 After flowering, the forsythia hides the 

 disrobing Mertensia with its heavy sheet 

 of foliage. 



Some perennials the bleeding heart and 

 the perennial poppy have ragged foliage 

 after blooming and require some tall bushy 

 plant to be placed in front and around 

 them to hide their shabbiness. Strong- 

 growing perennials, asters or the biennial 

 Rudbeckia triloba, are good for this pur- 

 pose. 



Some instances occur where a low hedge 

 of perennials might look well, for instance 

 in a small yard where all the lines are 

 formal and a straight walk leads from gate 

 to house. A floral hedge might be placed 

 at each side of the walk by making beds 

 eighteen inches to two feet wide and deep. 

 The best perennial hardy plant I know for 

 this purpose is the gas plant (Dictamnus 

 fraxinella), which, when once established, 

 remains a joy, almost forever. Some peo- 

 ple are still enjoying the blooms of plants 



