28 FLOWER GARDENING 
Herbaceous perennials are the largest class of 
garden plants and because of their durability they 
are the most valuable one. Their life runs on 
indefinitely; two or three generations may see a 
peony or fraxinella growing in the same spot. 
It scarcely can be said that the individual lives years 
without number, as in the case of a tree. Often 
there is the appearance of this when old plants 
have not been disturbed; but the fact is that the 
root system expands from year to year, forming 
new crowns for blooming. With the development 
of the new comes a more or less gradual dissolu- 
tion of the old, according to the nature of the plant. 
Bulbs create new units as the old ones die and 
shrink and wither away. 
Whatever is herbaceous is supposed to die down 
to the ground in winter. This many herbaceous 
perennials fail to do. Nota few, such as the pinks 
and the creeping phloxes, have evergreen foliage 
—which is a very fortunate thing indeed. That 
beautiful St. John’s wort, Hypericum Moserianum, 
is known as herbaceous, but is more like a dwarf 
shrub. 
Annuals and biennials have a root system that 
generally permits of no division. They are there- 
fore grown from seed; or, in certain cases, from 
cuttings. The more nearly the root is a long tap 
with very fine rootlets, the more difficult transplant- 
ing becomes; that is why it is advisable to sow the 
seed of annual poppies, sweet alyssum and mignon- 
ette where the plants can remain, the surplus being 
