The Making auid Care of an Old-Fashioned Hardy Border. — Continued. 



Winter Care. — About the middle of November or later, 

 when all the soft growth has been killed l)y the frost and the plants 

 are thoroughly ripened, the old haid-wooded steins should be re- 

 moved and burnt up. It will then be found beneficial to cover 

 the plants with a topdressing of loose stable litter, or, if this is not 

 to be had, a covering of leaves — Nature's protection. This 

 covering is best applied when the ground is in a dry condition, 

 and should not be overdone; two or three inches spread over 

 loosely being all that is required. A deeper covering would 

 incite the plants into premature growth in the early spring, with 

 a liability of damage by late frost; don't be in a hurry to cover 

 the plants, a little frost will do them good. As the extreme cold 

 weather begins to disappear this covering should be removed by 

 degrees, allowing any young growths which the plants may have 

 made to gradually harden off. This process usually occupies 

 only a few days, after which the plants may be fully exposed to 

 the sunshine, and the litter or 

 covering which has protected 

 them during the winter may be 

 raked up and removed. 



Replanting. — It is all non- 

 sense to suppose that Hardy 

 Perennials once planted require 

 no attention for several years. 

 The truth is, if we wish them 

 to give entire satisfaction, we 

 must each spring see that each 

 variety is treated in the best 

 manner to insure its fullest de- 

 velopment during the next 

 flowering season. Many ideas 

 are advanced on the question of 

 how often they ought to be di- 

 vided and transplanted, but no 

 positive rule can be applied. 

 Some sorts will take two or 

 three years, or even longer, to 

 get established and develop their 

 fullest beauty after being trans- 

 planted, and usually the longer 

 they are allowed to go with- 

 out disturbance the better re- 

 sults will be accomplished, while 

 others should be transplanted or 

 reset each season. 



Most hardy plants which 

 flower during the spring or early 

 summer months, such as An- 

 thericum, Paeonies, Doronicum, 

 Dielytras, etc , produce their 

 new growth from the crown of 

 close, compact roots, and are 



An EFFEcrrvH Hardt Border, 



better if left undivided and undisturbed for several years, the only 

 care necessary for these being a liberal covering with fresh soil or 

 compost early in spring. The late summer and autumn blooming 

 species are usually of a more vigorous growth. Such sorts as Heli- 

 anthus, Rudbekias, Asters, Boltonias, Physostegias, etc., on 

 which the original crowns die out each season and many new 

 side-growths are made, are far better if replanted each season, 

 selecting from three to five of the strongest growths, which, after 

 the ground has been redug and enriched, may be reset in the 

 same position or replanted to another section of the garden. 

 Treated in this manner, they will not only produce flowers of 

 larger size and finer colors, but will keep the stronger and more 

 rampant growing varieties from crowding out their equally in- 

 teresting but less vigorous neighbors. 



Many not thoroughly familiar with this class of plants have 

 an idea that nothing but a large field-grown clump will give satis- 

 factory returns the first season. 

 This, as experience has taught 

 us, is in most instances a mis- 

 take. A vigorous plant of proper 

 size will, in nearly every case, 

 give quicker and better returns 

 than the best so-called "field 

 clumps." The majority of the 

 stock offered in this catalogue 

 is pot-grown. This does not 

 mean that the plants have been 

 altogether pot-grown, but that 

 they have been field-grown and 

 dug and potted up during the 

 fall months, and such stock can 

 be planted, even late in the 

 spring, with practically no loss, 

 which, in the case of clumps, is 

 often quite serious. The follow- 

 ing letter from the well-known 

 and successful amateur, W. C. 

 Egan, endorses our views on this 

 matter. 



Egandale, III. 

 Gentlemen — Your shipment 

 of perennials arrived safely to- 

 day in most excellent order. It 

 certainly is a pleasure, as well 

 as a profit, to receive plants from 

 you. Your system of growing 

 these in pots allows shipment 

 without disturbing the roots, 

 thus insuring uninterrupted 

 growth and no loss in planting. 

 Respectfully yours, 



W. C. Egan. 



Dreer's Collections of Hardy Perennial Plants. 



The list of Hardy Perennial plants which we offer in our garden book is admitted to be the most complete and up-to-date col- 

 lection in this country, and we are continually adding to our list all the new, rare and desirable sorts, both of home and foreign 

 introduction. 



We offer customers who are not acquainted with the different sorts the following collections, all in good, strong roots, which once 

 planted will, with little care, keep the garden gay with flowers from the time frost leaves the ground until late in the autumn. 



12 distinct species, our selection $1 50 I 50 distinct species and varieties, our selection $5 00 



25 " ' 2 75 1100 " " " •' " " 9 00 



Dreer's Specied Catalogue of 



©Ibsfasbioneb Ibarb^ DMants. 



While we are not in the landscape business and and cannot undertake the preparation of plans for planting or 



laying out of grounds, we have had prepared by a competent landscape architect a series of plans of hardy borders with list of 

 suitalile plants for positions either in sun or shade. 



These are included in the above special catalogue, which also contains a complete alphabetical list of all the hardy plants we 

 grow, together with their color, height, time of flowering, and location best suited to each. This list should make it compara- 

 tively easy for even a novice to make a selection to fill a bed or border of any size or shape without making a serious blunder. 



Copies of this Special Catalogue will be sent free on application. 



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