PLANTING AND SEEDING SEASONS 13 



when planting older plants is the blooming period of the species 

 under consideration. As the blooming period is one of great activity 

 above the ground, those plants which bloom late in the season, like 

 Japanese windflowers and chrysanthemums, should be moved in the 

 spring when they can make root growth more quickly and thus recover 

 from the shock. On the other hand, those plants which bloom and 

 mature early are practically dormant in late summer and early autumn. 

 Thus, irises and peonies can be moved safely about September 1st, 

 and will recover quickly and make new roots before cold weather sets 

 in, whereas they are very active in the spring and often do not recover 

 from the shock of being moved at that time unless the work is done 

 very early. These are probably the first sorts fit to move in the 

 autumn season, and other sorts follow along as they mature. The 

 planting season for perennials would open earlier in the spring on a 

 light soil than on a heavy one, both because the ground mellows 

 earlier and because a heavy soil warms up more slowly. The texture 

 of the soil is a factor affecting the planting season of perennials more 

 than it does the other larger-rooted plants, and it is better to delay 

 spring planting until the soil is in good condition to handle and is 

 warm. Thus, the spring perennial season is likely to start later and 

 last longer than that for woody deciduous plants, and also start earlier 

 and stop earlier in the autumn. Pot-grown plants and seedlings can be 

 transplanted at odd seasons whenever the weather is right, but it is 

 generally best to wait till spring for all young herbaceous plants. 

 Thus they are given the whole growing season in which to get es- 

 tablished. Care should be taken not to bring tender plants out too 

 early, before they have been hardened off, or too late, when the torrid 

 summer days will wilt them down before they take root. 



LAWNS. The spring seeding season for lawn grass starts in the 

 Lower Austral Zone in February, about the middle of the month, and 

 continues to May ist, but may be shut ofFby the advent of hot weather 

 as early as March ist. As one goes farther north, the season does not 

 lengthen very much, but merely opens later, extending from about 

 April 1 5th to June ist. Thus, this seeding season, to a great extent, 

 overlaps the planting season and cannot be protracted past the closing 

 date for planting without great risk of the bad effect of hot weather on 

 the young grass. The autumn season starts in the North as early as 

 August ist, and closes not later than October ist, but generally by the 



