44 A LITTLE BOOK OF PERENNIALS 



TEgopodium — Bishop's Weed, Goat Weed 



Wherever one goes, through many gardens and even in some 

 woods this green and yellow variegated plant has spread its roots 

 until it has almost come to be considered a troublesome weed by many 

 people, although in its place it is of great value. The white flower is 

 rather inconspicuous and does not show up well against the light 

 colored leaves, .^gopodium Podagraria is a small creeping plant with 

 white margined leaves. 



Uses. The Bishop's Weed makes a beautiful border for a bed of 

 shrubs or flowers, if it is not allowed to spread too freely. It grows to 

 best advantage when used to cover waste ground or shady places 

 where grass will not grow. It is well used in the narrow strips of soil 

 between the foundation wall and a sidewalk. 



Culture. It thrives in any kind of soil. 



Propagation. By seeds, and division. 



Ajuga — Bugle Flower 



For creeping over the soil in shaded places the Bugle Flower is 

 excellent. Two sorts are commonly catalogued. Ajuga reptans rubra 

 has deep purplish-blue flowers and purplish leaves and is prostrate in 

 habit; A. genevensis is more upright in growth and bears flowers vary- 

 ing in color from duU red to white and blue. There is a variegated 

 form of the Bugle Flower in which the leaves are mottled with yeUow. 

 They flower in May. 



Use. It is an excellent carpet plant and is often used in ceme- 

 teries. When clipped into form it serves as an excellent edging plant. 

 Rockeries are often planted with the Ajuga. The plants will grow 

 beneath trees where a lawn is difiicult to establish. 



Culture and Propagation. The plants, being of a spreading 

 habit, are easily divided either in Spring or Fall. Seeds grow readily. 



Alyssum — Madwort, Basket of Gold, Gold Dust, 

 Goldentuft, Rockmadwort 



The various Alyssums have been known for a long time as one of 

 the best, if not the best, edging plant for borders of all kinds. They 

 have been combined with Darwin Tulips, with Rock Cress (Arabis) 

 and the False Wall Cress (Aubrietia), and also with shrubs, such as the 



