Raising Perennials from Seed-By Thomas McAdam, 



New 

 Jersey 



WHY AUGUST IS THE BEST MONTH IN THE YEAR FOR SOWING SEEDS OF HARDY PEREN- 

 NIAL FLOWERS— HOW ANYBODY MAY RAISE THEM WITH OR WITHOUT A COLDFRAME 



SOONER or later everybody wants to 

 raise perennials from seed, because it 

 is the cheapest way of stocking the garden 

 with these flowers. When you buy plants 

 from a nurseryman you pay fifteen cents or 

 more for each little plant, while a packet of 

 seed from which you can raise a hundred 

 plants may cost five or ten cents only. There 

 is some difference between having a hundred 

 larkspurs for $25 and a hundred larkspurs 

 for twenty-five cents ! 



August is the best month in the year for 

 sowing seeds of hardy perennial flowers, 

 because the seeds that you get then are 

 fresher and will therefore germinate more 

 quickly. The seeds that you buy in spring 

 are last year's crop but by the first of August 

 you can get this year's seeds of nearly 

 all the favorite perennials. 



Peony seeds if sown in spring will lie dor- 

 mant a year or even two years. The same 

 is true of Primula Japonica. Many others 

 will never germinate at all. The only 

 perennials I know that do better in spring 

 are given in a short list toward the end of this 

 article. 



The old notion that it takes more time and 

 care to raise perennials from seed than it 

 does annuals, contains "a nine per cent. 



HollyhocKs are best sown in July, The fresher the 

 seed of any perennial, the surer the germination 



alloy of truth." Young perennials grow 

 more slowly and therefore it is usually con- 

 venient to transplant them twice before they 

 are put into their permanent quarters, 

 whereas annuals can often be merely broad- 

 casted and thinned. In either case, how- 

 ever, there are only two months in which it 

 is necessary to give close attention to small 

 plants, for May-sown annuals will bloom 

 in July, and August-sown perennials will 

 be ready for their permanent quarters by 

 the end of September. Perennials do require 

 a little more care than annuals, but only a 

 little — provided they are sown in August, for it 

 is obvious that May-sown perennials require 

 five months of care before they go into 

 winter quarters, while August-sown peren- 

 nials need only two. 



I will concede that perennials do not give 

 a full crop of flowers the first year and there- 

 fore beginners must have annuals. But the 

 waiting for perennials to bloom is not tedious 

 because there are other things to enjoy while 

 you are raising perennials in a small out-of- 

 the-way place, and next year you can stock 

 your garden with a class of plants that is 

 more dignified and enduring, and which will 

 furnish flowers daily for three months at a 

 time when spring-sown annuals are not in 

 bloom viz. : from April to June inclusive. 



THE ECONOMY OF A COLDFRAME 



While it costs nothing at all to make a 

 little outdoor seedbed for perennials, and 

 many people raise them in a moist, shaded 

 spot, I would strongly urge you to have a 

 coldframe because it will enable you to raise 

 a larger percentage of plants and therefore 

 will be cheaper in the end. A sash costs 

 $3 and you can surround it with boards. 



Sow the seeds as early in August as pos- 

 sible, and not later than the middle of the 

 month. Seeds sown later will germinate 

 so late that they will not make sufficient 

 growth this fall to produce a good crop of 

 flowers next spring, and they winter badly. 



Sow the seeds in rows four inches apart. 

 Water and cover with a sash which has been 

 whitewashed. Instead of placing the sashes 

 directly on the frame, prop them up with 

 some short pieces of wood; 4-inch blocks 

 are very handy for this. 



About a week after the seedlings show 

 above the ground, remove the sash and in 

 its place put a lath screen. This will give 

 the seedlings sufficient protection while 

 allowing them to become hardened to the 

 sunlight. In another week's time, remove 

 the lath screen. 



The seedlings come up so closely together 

 that they cannot stand long without becoming 

 drawn. Transplant them into another frame 

 as soon as they develop their first or second 

 pair of leaves, setting them about four inches 

 apart each way. Here they will make 

 thrifty little plants that will pass the winter 

 15 



Larkspurs, example of plants that have better 

 constitution when propagated by seed instead of 

 division 



in the coldframe with a minimum of care 

 and loss and will be in the best condition 

 for planting out next spring. If there is no 

 room in the frame the young plants may be 

 set outdoors at this time to pass the winter. 

 In either case, cover them with good leaves 

 or litter to prevent damage from the alternate 

 freezing and thawing, which heaves out 

 small shallow rooting plants of any kind 

 and breaks their roots. 



If you cannot afford even one coldframe 

 make an outdoor seedbed in a moist, well- 

 drained spot. If the soil is heavy put clinkers 

 at the bottom for drainage and mix the soil 

 thoroughly with sifted coal ashes or leaf 

 mold or woods earth in order to lighten it. 

 Raise the seedbed an inch above the sur- 

 rounding grounds to insure good drainage. 



The cheapest way to shade an outdoor 

 seedbed is to use waterproofed muslin. 

 Make a screen of it one foot longer than the 

 seed rows so that it will hang over the south 

 side of the bed far enough to protect the 

 ends of the rows. To hold this screen in 

 place drive stakes firmly into the ground 

 and let their tops be nine or ten inches above 

 the surface of the earth. The muslin screen 

 must be replaced by a lath screen shortly 

 after the seeds germinate. 



VALUABLE LISTS OF PERENNIALS 



i. A coldframe is necessary in order to 

 produce the finest strains of English daisy, 

 polyanthus and gloxinia-flowered foxglove, 



