October, 191 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



343 



Hardy Perennials as a class are less 

 particular than almost any others about 

 demanding ideal conditions for growth. 

 Most of them will do well in almost any 

 ordinary garden soil which is properly 

 drained. A great many of them will 

 do well also in full sun or in partial 

 shade. However, as with few excep- 

 tions, they are not over three or four 

 feet tall, they are used most effectively 

 in a long border in front of shrubs or 

 some tall hedge or a trellis covered with 

 climbing Vines or Roses, to furnish a 

 background. 



Two of the most common mistakes in 

 planting are to set the plants too close 

 and to set them too deep. By examining 

 the plants, you can usually judge about 

 how deep each has been growing in the 

 nursery before taking up, and should be 

 set at the same depth or just a very little 

 deeper. Most of the hardy Perennials 



Gaillardia 



are rather tall in habit and grow naturally in colonies or 

 among other plants which touch them, at least around the 

 base, on all sides. Overcrowding, however, should by all 

 means be avoided. As a general rule, the distance between 

 the plants that will be required will be about one half that 

 of their normal height. Put the lower growing things, one 

 half to two feet, about eight or twelve inches apart, and the 

 taller things, such plants as Larkspur or Irises, growing 

 three feet high, a foot and a half apart. 



While some of the Perennials are perfectly hardy with 

 no protection whatever, others require slight protection 

 during Winter in the colder sections and it is therefore safe, 

 where a mixed border is used, to cover the whole late in the 

 Fall with a few inches of leaves which may be held in place 

 by a few boards or pine branches. 



Where there are so many excellent Perennials from which 

 to make one's choice it is often difficult to say that such and 



such a short list is the "best" list, and 

 where, moreover, it is impossible to go 

 into descriptive detail about the various 

 plants that may be used, nevertheless, 

 the following Perennials are suggested 

 to those who have had little or no ex- 

 perience with gardening, as being thor- 

 oughly reliable and quite sure to please. 

 Adonis, or "Birds-Eye," one of the 

 earliest Spring-flowering plants with 

 pretty yellow flowers, and growing 

 about a foot in height. Alyssum Sexa- 

 tile Compactum, or "Basket-of-Gold," 

 another extra early low-growing plant 

 with flowers of a bright golden color, 

 especially useful for rockeries and bor- 

 ders. Anemone (Japonica), the Jap- 

 anese Wind-flower. This is one of the 

 most beautiful of all the Fall flowering 

 Perennials, growing two to three feet 

 high and yielding an enormous number 

 of most graceful flowers in white and 



pink shades. Aquilegia, or Columbine, is too well known 

 to need description but many people fail to realize how 

 many varieties there are as it is seldom that one sees more 

 than one or two in a place. They grow two to three feet 

 high and bloom during early Summer. The hardy Asters, 

 both dwarf and tall growing are especially valuable because 

 they bloom when most other flowers have gone by. The 

 newer named varieties should not be confused with the older 

 weedy sorts. Grandiflorus, one of the very best, has flowers 

 fully two inches across, and flowers into November. Bol- 

 tonia is a taller late blooming plant with masses of aster- 

 like flowers, and one of the best for Fall planting. Hardy 

 Chrysanthemums, of the "Pompon" type, should be in- 

 cluded in every border. They are among the most beautiful 

 of flowers, and furthermore are in their glory at the sea- 

 son — just after the first killing frost — when most of the 

 other flowers are in ruin; there are many beautiful colors, 



The type of garden which has the good fortune to include a bit of woodland 



