

'V7f^ 



P""* 4^33 









Y^3^?y* 









!*5 ^ ■' ' 



^i 





S| 



ifSpRH 



^ ;:"->; t :'>">>. , -- 



l§-"^VS» 



terf 



Ku9 



IN 





P^pHSpgagy 



^Sis 







i-- '-'WKlftKM 



$liS«K 











sBL'w*5?fSE 











wy^8BK E|a^^2k| 





fe^^rlQ 





^r^^^^lMiw^^i 













^EHHS^ "Qifl 







EMI 









150. Plume poppies (Bocconia cordate), globe thistles (Echinops), and hollyhocks 151. The best tall, double, yellow-flowered perennial. RudbecKia Golden Glow 



The Best Tall Perennials— By Thomas McAdam 



Jersey 



HARDY PLANTS THAT GROW HIGHER THAN A MAN EVERY SEASON— THE BEST LUSTY HERBS FOR BORDERS, 

 SHRUBBERIES, LAWN SPECIMENS, WILD GARDENS, AND BOG GARDENS— PLANTS THAT ANY ONE CAN GROW 



EVERYBODY knows that a " hardy per- 

 ennial" is a plant that dies down to 

 the ground every winter like a peony and 

 comes up again in the spring for an indefinite 

 number of years ; and most people know that 

 there is a bewildering assortment of them, 

 ranging in height from two inches to three or 

 four feet. It is a surprising fact that there 

 are barely a dozen first-class perennials that 

 normally grow as high as a man and are 

 suitable for the back of a hardy border. 



The best plants for the back of a hardy 

 border are single hollyhocks. They have 

 by far the greatest range of color of any tall, 

 hardy herbs. I like them better than double 

 hollyhocks, even if their flowers do not last 

 as long. They are hardier and more per- 

 manent than double hollyhocks. A serious 

 drawback is the disease — a rust. Every 

 leaf must be burned. Spraying is a nuisance 

 and can be avoided if you get seed from 

 healthy plants and grow them on land where 

 no diseased hollyhocks have been. Holly- 

 hocks are biennial and bloom the second 

 year, after which single hollyhocks will sow 

 themselves year after year all over the gar- 

 den. The new everblooming strain actually 

 will bloom the first year, although this seems 

 impossible. If seeds of this strain are sown 

 indoors in March or April, and the young 

 plants set out in May, they will begin to bloom 

 in July or August, and will continue to do so 

 until frost, provided they have all the food 

 and water they can use. The strain is new 

 and far from perfect, the plants being shorter 

 and the spikes looser. 



Second rank I should give to the plume 

 poppy {Bocconia cordata), a stately Japanese 

 plant, with flowers that have no resemblance 

 to poppies save such as botanists may detect. 

 The blossoms are small, pinkish white, with- 

 out petals, and borne in great, fluffy masses 

 high above the foliage. It is pleasant to 



watch these plumes of flowers change to 

 plumes of seeds. The leaf has the same 

 glaucous hue and texture as blood-root and 

 is similarly lobed. The plant spreads rapidly 

 by means of suckers. Each one of these, 

 when detached, will make a good plant the 

 same season. 



Golden Glow is much less refined than 

 Bocconia, but outranks it in popularity. It 

 multiplies faster, I believe, than any other 

 desirable border plant, and it will give more 

 flowers of its size, color, and season than 

 any other perennial. It has a double yellow 

 flower about two inches across, which lacks 

 symmetry. The flower has only one color 

 and shape, the plant has to be staked, and of 

 late years the red plant-lice have got after it. 



Fourth honors go to the giant reed 

 (Ariindo Donax), the best tall, hardy, orna- 

 mental grass. It is no trick to make it grow 

 eight feet high and I have seen it sixteen. 

 The books say it attains thirty feet, but I 

 don't believe it does in this country. Its 

 plumes of reddish flowers, like corn tassels, 

 are sometimes cut off by frost before they 

 have a chance to develop, but that is no mat- 

 ter, as people grow it for the bamboo-like 

 grace of its stem and leaves. I have often 

 tried to get a big stock of this by growing it 

 from seed, but have never succeeded. They 

 say that if you will lay the canes in damp 

 moss in winter, nearly every joint will sprout ; 

 each joint can* then be severed, potted and 

 will make a new plant. The giant reed is a 

 magnificent plant for lawn specimens and 

 for the margins of water gardens. 



Another tall grass of the same sort is 

 Ravenna grass (Erianthus Ravenna;), which 

 seems to flower earlier and to be better 

 adapted to damp ground than to the garden. 

 The plumes of both species may be used for 

 winter bouquets. 



The Scotch thistle is the most striking of 



119 



all the tall, gray-leaved plants, and when it is 

 allowed to grow six feet high and bear its 

 royal purple flower heads, it is nothing short 

 of splendid. There is no danger of any bien- 

 nial plant becoming a pest in this country, 

 as it can be hoed out the second year any 

 time before it flowers. In order to get it, you 

 may have to send to European seedsmen for 

 seeds of Onopordon Acanthium. It is far 

 less prickly than our common thistle. After 

 flowering it gets shabby. 



Joe-Pye weed would be a stunning plant 

 if its flower clusters were only a purer and 

 brighter pink. As the purplish-pink flat 

 clusters fade, they look rather dirty and dis- 

 sipated. But, in its place, Joe-Pye is unri- 

 valled. Every one has seen it at its best, 

 when growing by the waterside and reflected 

 in the lake. Few gardeners would concede 

 this plant a place in the background of a 

 hardy border. I believe its best color is 

 developed in the open, but it grows tallest 

 just within damp woods. Of course, it 

 prefers wet soil. It improves much in cul- 

 tivation and great masses of it are very 

 effective in wild gardens. 



The oddest flowers of them all are the 

 globe thistles, which are known for their 

 silvery-white stems, handsomely cut leaves, 

 and blue, globular flower-heads of peculiar 

 structure. Sea-hollies, those strange plants 

 with foliage of a metallic-bluish cast, belong 

 to the "same breed of cats," from the gar- 

 dener's standpoint, though the globe thistles 

 are composites, while the sea-hollies or eryn- 

 giums belong to the carrot family (Umbelli- 

 jerce). The two groups are often associated 

 in gardens and are sometimes used for per- 

 petual bouquets. They are particularly 

 attractive to bees. The best globe thistle 

 is said to be Echinops Riiro var. tennijolins, 

 known to nurserymen as Echinops Rutheni- 

 cus, but E. spharocephalus is taller. 



