PLANTING AND TRANSPLANTING 39 



DEPTH FOR TRANSPLANTING. The question is often asked as to how 

 deep stock should be set when it is transplanted. This is a query 

 which must be applied to various types of material according to the 

 special requirements of each. For example, some of the more tender 

 perennials like the shasta daisy, the foxglove, and the cardinal flower 

 should not be set as deep as some of the hardier types like the phlox, the 

 larkspur, and the hardy sunflower. The suggestions here, however, are 

 general. A plant in its new location should stand at about the same 

 level as it stood before. There is more danger of setting a plant too 

 deep in a clayey soil than in that which is sandy, for it is vital that the 

 air should reach the roots. More stock is injured by deep planting 

 than by shallow, and it often will be found well to set the plant with the 

 crown or top of the roots an inch or more nearer the surface than it was 

 before. This is especially true in the case of trees which, as is fre- 

 quently observed, are easily killed by filling in earth around them. In 

 the case of shrubs it is not a serious matter, except with rhododendrons 

 and azaleas. These two plants are strongly characterized by having 

 roots that remain near the surface. Roses of all kinds, however, are 

 better set deep, for they readily throw out new roots above the old. 

 Deep planting thus incidentally helps to conserve the supply of 

 moisture so essential to success with the rose. In the case of budded 

 roses it is necessary to have the union at least two and a half or three 

 inches below the surface of the ground, in order that suckers may not 

 spring up from the stock and choke the engrafted plant. Vines, 

 particularly grape vines, also it is well to plant deep. In fact, grape 

 vines are often led under the ground for a rod or more to spring up at a 

 distant point where it is desired to have them grow. But with 

 perennials in general, extreme care must be exercised. Those like the 

 iris, with leaves that spring from a point near the ground, are made to 

 decay by earth heaped about them. Those with thick, fleshy roots 

 particularly should be planted only according to a careful observance of 

 their habit of growth. The peony does not make good bloom if the 

 eyes , are sunk much more than two and a half inches below the 

 surface. In the transplanting of the roots of the larkspur it 

 should be borne in mind that the crown at the base of the plant 

 should be covered with good topsoil to a depth of approximately 

 two or three inches. In all transplanting calculation should be 

 made of the possibility of the earth settling around the plant 

 (See Plate VI). 



