20 



A LITTLE BOOK OF PERENNIALS 



WATERING 



If the soil is properly prepared and cultivated water is only needed 

 in the perennial garden during the most severe droughts. Many plants 

 may be encouraged to bloom a second time if they are watered thor- 

 oughly and fertilized. Water plants leisurely, giving each clump a 

 good, long drink. Merely wetting the surface soil is injurious to the 

 plants because it coaxes the roots to the surface soil and makes them 

 susceptible to the hot sun which will parch these feeding roots. Fur- 

 thermore, the benefits of cultivation are destroyed by daily sprinkling 

 the surface of the soil. 



STAKING 



The taller and more slender grow- 

 ing plants need stakes. Too commonly 

 we note stakes in greater evidence than 

 plants. Make them inconspicuous by 

 painting them green, and place them in 

 the centers of the clumps so that the 

 growth may appear perfectly natural, 

 not bundled. Lower growing perennials, 

 such as Achillea The Pearl, which are 

 apt to sprawl about the garden, are 

 best supported by placing twiggy 

 branches of shrubs and trees among the 

 plants into which the shoots may grow. 



No garden is quite as pretty as it 

 should be when the plants need stakes 

 and do not have them or when the 

 method of supporting the plants is 

 artificial in appearance. 



SEED PODS AND WITHERED FLOW- 

 ERS 



The hardest work a plant performs 

 is to produce seed, and so it is ever wise 

 to prevent seeding, thereby continuing 

 the season of bloom. The wise method 

 is to burn the old flowers as they harbor 



thrips, a minute insect which destroys the beauty of many flowers. 



Besides this matter of economizing the strength of the plants, gardens 



going to seed are untidy; they show want of care. 



Staking perennials. Note the 

 method of tying the heavy cord 

 about the stake first. This in- 

 sures the support from slipping 

 down. 



