16 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



August, 1907 



all of which are best treated as spring bedding 

 plants, i.e., they should be sown every year 

 in August, wintered in a coldframe and 

 discarded after blooming. 



2. Also it would be foolish not to give cold- 

 frame protection in winter to those peren- 

 nials whose seeds cost twenty-five cents a 

 packet or more, e.g., Aquilegia Helena:, 

 Campanula persicijolia, double Sweet Wil- 

 liam, choicest perennial phlox and Primula 

 Sieboldii. 



3. The short-lived perennials that are best 

 treated as biennials, are the golden and 

 Rocky Mountain columbines, the chimney 

 bellflower, perennial larkspur, the perennial 

 gaillardias, the Iceland poppy and the snap- 

 dragon. These all give their best flowers 

 when sown in August, and the only winter 

 protection they need is a covering of litter. 

 (The last two, however, will give a good crop 

 of flowers the same year if sown outdoors in 

 spring.) Everybody ought to have a seed- 

 bed and sow these favorites every year, 

 for they are at their best only during the first 

 season. 



4. There is no point in a beginner's raising 

 from seed species that have dozens of im- 

 proved varieties, as the seedlings are almost 

 sure to be inferior. The only way to per- 

 petuate these varieties is by dividing the 

 plants. To this class belong perennial chrys- 

 anthemum, Japanese iris, phlox and peony. 

 The exceptions are hollyhocks and larkspur, 

 which are healthier from seed and therefore 

 more satisfactory, even if the forms and colors 

 are not so near perfection. 



5. Seed is rarely, if ever, offered of the 

 following: bleeding heart, lily-of-the-valley, 

 day lilies (Funkia and Hemerocallis), Ger- 

 man iris, bergamot or Oswego tea, and moss 

 pink (Phlox subulata). However, these 

 plants are easily propagated by division and 

 everybody has them, so that it will not be 

 asking anv great favor of vour friends if 



you copy this list and inquire whether they 

 have any to spare. 



6. The following sow themselves when 

 once established and if your friends have 

 them at all, they will have plenty of seedlings 

 to spare; forget-me-nots, violets, Sweet 

 William, the common columbine and the 

 yellow alyssum. 



7. Others which are easily obtained from 

 friends, because they spread rapidly from 

 the root, are German iris, phlox, Golden 

 Glow, lemon lily, lily-of-the-valley, The Pearl 

 achillea, perennial sunflowers, coreopsis, 

 Bocconia, rocket, Japanese anemone, pom- 

 pon chrysanthemum, clove pink, and garden 

 heliotrope or true valerian. 



8. About the only popular perennials that 

 cannot be sown in August and wintered 

 safely outdoors are the Japanese anemone, 

 hollyhock, Scotch pinks (unless wintered 

 in raised beds), clove pinks or Marguerite 

 carnations, and possibly the Chinese lantern 

 plant (Physalis Francheti). These need to 

 be started in the spring in order to get a full 

 crop of flowers the next year, and they should 

 be transplanted to their permanent quarters 

 before September 20th. 



You can find a long list of perennials for 

 August sowing in the back of every bulb 

 catalogue. The earlier you get started in 

 August, the better your chances of success. 

 The best thing you can do is to send postal 

 cards to three or four of your favorite 

 dealers and ask to be put on their " early 

 mailing list" so that you may get one 

 of the few catalogues they issue in 

 August. Otherwise you will be classed 

 with "hoi polloi" and may have to wait 

 until September. 



Complaints have reached us that the ten- 

 dency of the day is to exaggerate the longevity 

 of perennials. One reader writes : " The 

 durability of the majority of perennials is 

 all bosh. Most of the refined kinds are 



short-lived, and most of the long-lived kinds 

 are coarse." 



The same reader suggests that we send a 

 circular letter to fifty amateurs in different 

 parts of the country asking which are the 

 permanent kinds and which are likely to dis- 

 appear after a year or two. 



This we would gladly do if we knew the 

 fifty people. Doubtless there are dozens 

 of readers of The Garden Magazine who 

 would be competent to respond to such a 

 circular, but we do not happen to know 

 who they are. Therefore we ask any such 

 to mark up their copies of this number and 

 send the marked pages to us so that we may 

 publish an "iron-clad list." (Of course, we 

 will gladly return fresh copies to replace the 

 damaged ones of our friends.) 



The advantage of having an iron-clad list 

 for your locality must be obvious, for 99 per 

 cent, of the amateur gardeners of America 

 do all their garden work themselves, or, at 

 the most, have a man-of-all-work instead of 

 a professional gardener. This man is usually 

 not competent to handle hotbeds and cold- 

 frames, and consequently anyone who does 

 not want the bother and expense of filling 

 the numerous gaps that appear in the hardy 

 borders every spring may restrict his choice 

 to a list of absolutely reliable perennials that 

 are really permanent. 



A PROVISIONAL IRON-CLAD LIST 



COMMON NAMES 



Single hollyhocks 

 Japanese anemone 

 Plume poppy 

 Boltonia 



Carpathian bellflower 

 Peach-leaved bellflower 

 Pompon chrysanthemum 

 Lily-of-the-valley 

 Perennial coreopsis 

 Gas plant 

 Garden pink 

 Bleeding heart 

 Blue day lily 



White day lily 

 Baby's breath 

 Perennial sunflowers 



Lemon lily 

 Orange day lily 

 Sweet rocket 

 Perennial candytuft 

 Eulalia 

 Bee balm 

 Oriental poppy 

 Moss pink 

 Golden Glow 

 Valerian 



STANDARD NAMES 



Althcea rosea 



Anemone Japonica 



Bocconia cordata 



Boltonia aiteroides and B. 

 I at i squama 



Campanula Car patica 



Campanula persicijolia 



Chrysanthemum Indicum 



Convallar ta majchs 



Coreopsis lanceolcta 



Diciamnus albus 



Dianthus plumarius 



Dicentra eximia 



Funkia Sieboldiana, For- 

 tune! , ovata and lanci folia 



Funkia subcordcta 



Gypsophila paniculata 



Helianthus decapeialus, var. 

 multiftorus, H. rigidus, 

 Maximiliani, and orgyalis 



Hemerocallis fava 



Uemerocallis fulva 



Hesperis matronalis 



Iberis sempervirens 



Miscanthus Sinensis 



Monarda didyma 



Papaver orientate 



Phlox subulata 



Rudbeckia lacinata, var.fl.pl. 



Valeriana officinalis 



English daisy, example of hardy perennials best grown for spring bedding and then discarded 



To the above list should be added those 

 which "self-sow," for although the indi- 

 vidual plants may be short-lived there is no 

 reason why the species, once secured, need 

 he lost. 



HOW YOU CAN HELP 



Put a check mark against every plant you 

 have grown that seems to you to be in the 

 right list. Scratch out any name that ought 

 not to be in any particular list and say why. 

 Add all the names that you can to the above 

 lists. 



