FAVORITE PERENNIALS 



or rockeries where in early May it can show its rosy, 

 heart-shaped flowers. Its fernlike foliage remains 

 beautiful all summer. 



Its relative, D. eximia, is one of the notable features 

 of the Alleghany Mountain flora. There the plants 

 grow to a large size and bear loosely in compound 

 racemes many nodding, rose-colored flowers. In shape 

 they are similar to the well-known Dutchman's breeches 

 that children seek in the woods before the hepaticas 

 have entirely disappeared. 



Among the perennials of May are numbered the 

 rockets, Hesperis matronalis, in white and soft shades 

 of purple; and surely there is a fascination about them, 

 with their sweet night scent and their unpretentious 

 personalities. They sow themselves with such eager- 

 ness that it often seems as if they intended to elbow 

 their neighbors out of the garden. 



Irises, poppies, and peonies are also perennials that 

 thrive near the salt spray, but for special reasons they 

 have all been treated elsewhere than in this chapter. 



In every old-time garden of note, there stood a 

 stately clump of Valerian officinalis. In late May it 

 began to unfold its flowers, which rested lightly on its 

 tall stems. In the bud they were delicately pink, but 

 on opening turned to pure white. Still, it was the 

 powerful vanilla-like fragrance which drew many to 

 the plant and which imprinted it indelibly upon the 

 memory. For the household tabby it had the same 

 lure and intoxication as catnip, the reason of its folk 

 name in England, "cat's fancy." 



To-day it is advertised by nurserymen under the 



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