Hardy Perennial Plants or ''Old-Fashioned Flowers/' 



Office of the ^^o^-MorTH Noiseey. 



Is it a passing fancy only, which has caused thousands of otherwise well balanced men to 

 pay large sums for antique furniture or to spend fabulous amounts upon paintings by the old 

 masters? We might judge this to be rash expenditure at first; but, on second thought, we can 

 readily account for it. The things of the past which have endured are those of greatest 

 worth, the mediocre having permanently dropped out of sight. Father Time, with his clear 

 perspective, is unerring in his judgment of values. 



Again, in the realm of flowers, our grandmothers fully appreciated their so-called "old 

 fashioned flowers" or hardy perennials; ^ hile the following generation has been "carried 

 away by the rage" for bedding plants. Which have stood the test of time? Though we lavishly 

 planted bedding plants because of their brilliancy an/^ effectiveness, we are now beginning to 

 realize how very commonplace and uninteresting such displays really are. We have failed to 

 enjoy our grounds as our grandmothers did theirs, because we soon tired of the unchanging 

 appearance of our "bedding plant lawns," so lacking, not only in artistic grace, but in flowers 

 with either fragrance or sentiment. Still deeper has been our disappointment when, after 

 much labor and expense, the first light frost of early fall has left our grounds as barren aa 

 though no effort had been made to beautify them. Is it surprising that many, possessed of 

 keen discernment, have already forsaken bedding plants for the beloved "grandmother's flow- 

 ers"? Others are following so eagerly that the whole group of unsatisfactory bedding plants 

 is being rapidly driven into the background. 



Hardy perennials, flowering shrubs and hardy vines are as valuable and useful todaj* as 

 they were in the past; indeed, many varieties now cultivated are so much finer than their 

 progenitors that they can scarcely be recognized as their offspring. With a well planned and 

 well planted lawn or garden of hardy perennial plants, shrubs and vines, one may find enjoy- 

 ment from earliest spring until long after frost comes. The short interval of winter rest only 

 serves to delight us afresh with revelations oi another spring. During almost any day of ita 

 long season, the hardy garden is changing; something new continually greets our eyes and re- 

 mains with us just long enough to avoid monotony, when it is replaced by some other 

 equally beautiful and interesting variety, though entirely different. Moreover, every dollar 

 spent means a permanent addition to the garden — in contrast to the bare ground left by 

 bedding plants each season. 



Not only do the same plants endure from year to year, but they grow larger and bloom 

 more profusely as the years pass by. Yet hardy perennials are by no means so generally 

 planted as their merits entitle them to be; in other words, a great many who might enjoy these 

 most pleasing of all flowers are not fully awake to their best interests, forgetting that the 



