LESSON 52 
Harpy PERENNIALS 
HIS lesson should introduce the pupil to the study 
of hardy perennials, their names, their visual char- 
acters, their habits and requirements, and their 
uses in landscape gardening. 
Uses 
Hardy perennials play a considerable role in landscape garden- 
ing. In home gardening and in the making of small formal gardens 
they quite frequently take the front of the stage. They are es- 
pecially desirable in developing ‘“‘old-fashioned flower gardens.” 
In the more florid types of park making they are extensively used. 
In general they are desired for their bright flowers and should be 
preferred to tender annuals or greenhouse goods which succumb to 
the first frosts of autumn and which have to be replaced at consid- 
erable expense each spring. 
Leading Kinds 
There are hundreds of genera, thousands of species and millions 
of varieties of these hardy perennials. New kinds are being intro- 
duced faster than the ablest experts can learn their names. The 
only sensible course for the layman therefore is to learn to know 
a few of the best groups, especially the most old-fashioned of all, 
such as the day lilies, the asters, the peonies, the irises and the lark- 
spurs. Even these he will know by a few leading varieties instead 
in the myriads of sorts grown by the connoisseurs. He can well 
console himself with the certainty that the oldest and most popular 
varieties are in all probability the best. 
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