The Best Way to Select Perennial Flowers—By Wilhelm Miller, 3: 
THE FIVE MOST IMPORTANT PURPOSES FOR WHICH WE WANT HARDY PERENNIAL FLOWERS—WHICH 
ARE THE BEST FOR EACH PURPOSE AND WHY—HOW TO HAVE FLOWERS EVERY DAY IN THE YEAR 
pee most precious feature of a hardy 
border is that it will furnish flowers 
every day of the year without a break. The 
perennials are the only class of plants that 
will do this. People who can afford two 
establishments may have a good reason for 
concentrating their efforts upon a short 
season, but the best kind of garden for the 
greatest number is the one in which there 
is something new of interest every day. 
It follows, I believe, that the simplest and 
best way to select the perennials for a garden 
is this: Set down the twelve months in their 
order and write down two names for each 
month — one for the first half and one for 
the second. I don’t mean that you should 
restrict your garden to twenty-four kinds 
of flowers altogether, but I do mean that that 
is more than enough for massing, and one’s 
first concern should be for the big masses 
—not for variety. The reason for this is 
that the most beautiful gardens are those in 
which one kind of flower dominates the whole 
garden at a time and then gives way to 
another big mass, and so on; while the weak, 
petty, restless gardens are the ones that have 
Golden glow 
Sneezeweed 
too many different kinds and not enough of 
any one. 
Almost every beginner makes the mistake 
of ordering a big list, but only one of a kind, 
thinking that he will work up stocks of each. 
If you do that you will lose a lot of species, 
for you can’t learn how to grow everything 
all at once, and you won’t have any mass 
effects the first year. It is too slow a way. 
Never buy less than a dozen plants of any- 
thing. Then you will have something 
worth working for. If you like it, you can 
have a big mass the next year; if you like 
other things better, you have something for 
exchange. But don’t squander your ener- 
gies on variety. Variety will take care of 
itself. You are bound to exchange with 
neighbors and to add new plants every year 
to brighten the dull times and places. 
If you are planning a border this year, 
take this advice. Concentrate your atten- 
tion on the chief masses that you want 
and order twelve to fifty plants each of 
whatever species you select by the following 
process: 
First, consult the best list of tall perennials 
Plume poppy (Bocconia cordata) 
I. THE BeEsT TALL PERENNIALS 
and choose what mass effects you want for 
the back of your border. 
Second, consult the list of medium-sized 
perennials and choose what you want for 
the middle row or portion of your border 
in groups of a dozen or more. 
Third, consult the list of low-growing 
perennials and choose the edging plants of 
which you need a dozen or more specimens. 
Fourth, having made sure of the big things, 
consider the fillers. The object now is the 
succession of bloom. That always means 
a few each of many kinds, but remember 
this — you will get more satisfaction from 
six each of twelve kinds than one each of 
seventy-two kinds. 
For the beginner this is all, but for the “old 
timer” I have two messages. First, have 
you ever grown in your vegetable garden a 
big mass of one perennial especially suited 
for cut flowers? What time next summer 
will you want cut flowers by the armful — big 
flowers with long stems? Second, don’t you 
want to grow a big collection of some par- 
ticular flower like the peony or phlox? If so, 
consider the list of perennials for the collector. 
Hollyhock Maximilian’s sunflower 
Note —The best perennials for the back row of a hardy border should (1) normally grow taller than a man without extra rich soil, 
(2) have showy flowers, (3) be refined, not coarse, wild-looking or thistly, (4) should not require excessive watering to reach their fullest 
development and, (5) should be strong enough to hold their own against shrubs without spreading too fast or crowding out smaller 
perennials. There are sixty-three other tall perennials that are worth growing, but most of them, though thriving in a border, are more 
appropriate for other departments of gardening. 
For instance, the tall swamp daisy (Chrysanthemum uliginosum), giant knotweed (Poly- 
gonum Sieboldiz) and purple loosestrife (Lythrum Salicaria) do well in a border with an extra supply of water, but in streamside planting 
they attain magnificence. Again, all those that require partial shade or spread rapidly are best for the wild garden, e. g., Cimicifuga and 
Boltonia. 
more appropriate for subtropical beds or lawn specimens, e. g., bamboos and the giant reed. 
Some are too hard to grow, too costly, or too rare for most people, e.g., Romneya, Rheum, Archangelica. 
Still others are 
None of the tall perennials bloom before 
July, but most of the shrubs do and, therefore, it is well to have shrubbery as a background for a border of perennial flowers. 
TIME OF 
COMMON NAME STANDARD NAME Se iaars COLOR WHY BEST 
Hollyhock......--.-| Althea rosea.......-----| July....| Many 
den plants. Singles hardier, but double flowers last longer. 
Plume poppy. .----- Bocconia cordata. ....-- July. ...| Pinkish 
shaped like a fig’s, but glaucous like a bloodroot’s. 
Golden glow.. .----| Rudbeckia laciniata, var.| Aug. ---| Yellow 
Golden Glow. any other desirable hardy plant, but flowers not symmetrical. 
Double perennial] Helianthus multiflorus,| Aug. -.-| Yellow 
sunflower var. plenus 
Superb variety of] Helenium — aulumnale,| Sept....| Yellow 
sneezeweed var. superbum broader at apex and having three prominent lobes. 
Slender late sun-| Helianthus orgyalis. ..| Sept....| Yellow 
flower 2s ; linear, gracefully drooping leaves. Unique habit. Late. 
Maximilian’s sun-| Helianthus Maximili-| Oct....| Yellow 
flower ant across. Leaves deeply grooyed and arching gracefully. 
CULTURAL DIRECTIONS, ETC. 
Largest flowers and widest range of colors among tall gar-| Put 3 oz, copper carbonate in r qt. ammonia. Dilute with 25 
gals. water. Spray every week. Begin April. 
Great fluffy masses of small pinkish white flowers. Leaves} Spreads rapidly by suckers and makes glorious masses. Some- 
times spreads‘too fast in rich soil. 
Gives more double yellow flowers and multiplies faster than| To kill red plant lice, dissolve any common soap in water 
and spray it on the insects. 
Largest and most refined double yellow flowers borne by any| Will degenerate unless given good soil and divided every three 
hardy perennial. About 4 in. across full and symmetrical. years. Soleil d’Or has quilled florets at first. ; : 
Flower more refined and distinctive than a sunflower, the rays| Plant 2 feet taller and an inch wider than the common kind 
(3 inches across). 
Spikes 4 ft.long, of small pale yellow flowers towering above| Tallest of the perennials, attaining 10 or 12 it. in rich soil; 
frost resister, blooming well into October. 
Late bloom and unique foliage. Flowers deep yellow, 13 in.| Latest of all the tall perennials, giving a good show of flowers 
after several hard frosts. 
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