HARDY PERENNIALS 



The characteristic feature of old English gardens, 

 whether attached to cottage or mansion, is what is 

 known as mixed borders of hardy herbaceous plants. 

 Almost every garden enthusiast, whose interest lies 

 outside the exhibition table, is most attached to this 

 feature of his garden. 



At every season of the year it contains something of 

 interest. From the flowering of the earliest primrose of 

 the spring to the last of the Michaelmas Daisies there is 

 no time when beautiful and fragrant flowers are absent 

 from the well-planted mixed border. Moreover, the 

 plants, coming up as they do season after season, become 

 a part of the very atmosphere of the garden, and one 

 gets to look for each flower's return in a particular 

 spot. 



The mixed border requires comparatively little atten- 

 tion, if it is thoroughly prepared at the commencement, 

 as, beyond weeding and occasional hoeing of the surface, 

 the periodical adding of a little manure, thinning out a 

 plant here, or replacing a plant there, little work is neces- 

 sary from one autumn to another. The mixed border 

 also offers a home for any chance new plant which comes 

 into our possession. 



In preparing a border for herbaceous plants the first 

 thing is to manure it thoroughly and trench it deeply. 

 At least a couple of months before planting, the ground 

 should be trenched to a depth of three feet or more, 

 and a heavy dressing of farmyard manure thoroughly 

 incorporated with the whole depth of soil. Just before 



