The Garden Magazine 



WITH the approach of winter the gardener's thoughts drift 

 naturally to the question of protection in the hardy 

 border, concerning which there is much misunderstand- 

 ing. For the most part a winter covering on hardy plants is un- 

 necessary. To fuss over them is misdirected energy. Nature will 

 care for them through cold, as well as through heat. Strange as it 

 may seem more hardy plants die from too much covering than from 

 lack of it. Rarely should we cover to keep out frost, but as a protec- 

 tion against daily climatic variations in winter. 



We may distinguish, in general, three groups of perennial herba- 

 ceous plants — tender, absolutely hardy, and doubtful. The first 

 group includes those plants absolutely requiring a covering; they 

 are not entirely hardy in New England, the region of the Great 

 Lakes, and similar latitudes, and of course are useless in Canada, 

 since they cannot endure repeated freezings and thawings. Such 

 are Galtonia, Tritonia, Kniphofia, Alstroemeria, etc., which are 

 bulbous, or tuberous, and coming from a tropical climate are not 

 suited to endure our winters; yet their striking colors and unusual 

 characters make them desirable in the garden. These are not many 

 in number of species, and should not be used in prominent places. 

 They may best be lifted and stored like Dahlias. If left in the 

 ground, cover very deeply with manure or hay that frost and water 

 may not penetrate to them. Even Cannas and Gladiolus might 

 be thus protected, but it would require a small haystack on the 

 bed, and this would not be considered ornamental on the lawn all 

 winter, unless seen from the point of view of the botanical investi- 

 gator. Such plants are much better off in the cellar, and can make 

 a better growth the next year if reset in new ground after division 

 of their roots. I remember a very successful plantation of Cannas 

 that flourished for many years in the open ground in the latitude of 

 42 degrees North without protection — but they were placed over 

 a steam pipe between two large buildings, and the pipe was not 

 properly covered with packing; so dandelions bloomed in the green 

 grass over it all winter. Tender plants not bulbous, as hybrid 

 Pentstemons, many of the Primulas, Russian Violets, etc., are best 

 wintered in a frame, where their leaves may be kept dry and ex- 

 posed to the air, but not the sun, of winter. The Japanese Anemone 

 and the so-called "hardy Chrysanthemums" (the newer large 

 flowered kinds, not the old "button" sorts of our grandmothers), 

 plants that are forced by a late blooming season to go into winter 

 quarters in a very unprepared state must be given such assistance 

 as loosely piled leaves and straw. 



* The greater part of the best-known hardy plants require no 

 ^-y winter protection at all; indeed are even better off without it! 

 You never heard of a Peony, Phlox, Bee Larkspur, Dandelion, or 

 German Iris having been overcome by the rigors of winter. A 

 little covering will do them no harm, but the plants themselves 

 are indifferent to it, and a heavy coat might be fatal. The larger 

 part of the hardy border, the wall garden, and all the general wild 

 planting should consist of such plants as these. The true ever- 

 green perennials, unless on heavy soils, and in hoUows where water 

 stands in winter, also require no winter care. 



Many of the smaller, rarer, choicer, and more delicate perennials 

 cannot always be depended upon in all places to pull through the 



winter safely. The list is long and varied. Nearly all the common 

 garden genera, as Iris and Delphinium, have tender as well as hardy 

 species and the garden hybrids are likely to partake a certain 

 degree of tenderness from the tender species out of which they 

 are produced. 



• ^ Soil, slope, drainage, elevation, as well as latitude, are always 

 \!j to be considered as factors in considering the hardiness of such 

 plants. A plant entirely hardy without protection in one place will 

 die in a nearby garden. Absolute cold is not to be considered as 

 the critical factor since the plants will often withstand any amount 

 of frost, even many degrees below zero. Their death is due to a 

 combination of three causes — alternate freezing and thawing, 

 (which tears, dries, and kills the plant cells) ; water and ice around 

 the crowns (which rot the stem and leaf); and breaking or lifting 

 of the roots from the ground by the heaving action of the frost and 

 ice. 



The freezing and thawing is the most destructive and easily 

 remedied. A very little hay or leaves strewn loosely over the bed, 

 weighted down with twigs, pine boughs, or wire (but never heavy 

 logs), will effectually keep the sun from acting on the frozen ground. 

 Pine boughs alone in most cases suffice, and allow the necessary 

 circulation of air. This also protects from the heaving action of 

 frost, which is of a similar nature. Most plants that die are thawed 

 and dried to death in February and March when the sun is warm 

 in the daytime and the soil thaws at the surface to freeze hard again 

 at night. A south slope is particularly trying, for where the sun 

 shines warm for several hours in the middle of the day there must 

 be a great difference between day and night temperatures. 



4 Plants when frozen should stay frozen all winter to thaw but 

 once — when ready to start into growth in the spring. A bank 

 of snow is an excellent covering, and a natural one, but all water 

 should run away as fast as the snow melts. Manure is nearly 

 useless, as it holds water, unless it is nearly all straw. We are not 

 now fertilizing the bed; that was done when the ground was first 

 prepared for the plants, and the manure was well worked into the 

 soil where now the roots have penetrated. 



Standing water causes decay of the crowns; don't blame the 

 plants for not submitting to conditions remedied only by proper 

 surface drainage; all plants are not semi-aquatic, winter or summer. 

 Unnecessary soil moisture is removed by a proper slope and drain- 

 age that were prepared when the garden was built; no winter care 

 can remedy faults in construction. A garden when well-made 

 should not suffer from excessive moisture at the surface or below 

 at any season of the year. 



This light covering and proper drainage care for all the plants 

 whose leaves die away entirely in late fall, leaving the ground bare. 

 But many of our common herbs, while not evergreen perennials, 

 do not shed their root leaves and always suffer from moisture and 

 sun in our open winters. Such plants as Hollyhocks, Canterbury 

 Bells, Pentstemons, Primulas, and many more, are the ones to tax 

 the gardener's knowledge and skill. Deep covering or manure 

 simply hasten their demise by smothering them and causing fer- 

 mentation. Their leaves are often wide enough spread over the 



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