OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE WISCONSIN STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
Copyright 1916, by the Wisconsin State Horticultural Society, Madison, Wis. All rights reserved 
Volume VII 
Madison, Wisconsin, November, 1916 
Number 3 
Perennials or Herbaceous 
Plants 
Axel Johnson, Lake Geneva, Wis. 
Perennials or herbaceous plants 
are gaining more and more favor 
justly so because they are some 
of our most beautiful plants both 
for perennial beds and mixed 
borders; also for edging up shrub- 
beries. They are easily handled. 
The soil should be prepared and 
enriched with a good fertilizer 
before they are planted. Most 
of them can be undisturbed three 
or four years and some of them 
much longer. Most of them can 
be increased by division planted 
early in the fall. For the winter 
is required a light mulching of 
leaves which will serve to keep 
the action of the sun off the 
plants, preventing the plants 
from lifting, or as we call it, 
heaving out of the ground which 
would kill the roots of the plants. 
It will also serve to keep the 
plants dormant longer in the 
spring which is desirable on ac- 
count of the late frost we some- 
times have. The list of peren- 
nials'ns so great that I shall only 
attempt to mention a few: 
Aquilegia Hybrida 
Babtisia Australis 
Campanula Persicifolia & Car- 
patica 
Dianthus Plumaris 
Dictamnus Fraxinella 
Dielytra Spectabilis. 
Then we have the German Iris. 
Of this class of plants we have 
many beautiful varieties that are 
almost as pretty as orchids, such 
as 
Madam Cherau 
Pallida Delmatica, King of Iris 
Rheine Nix, Queen of May. 
Then we have the peony which 
ranks a close second to the rose. 
They are most beautiful when 
in bloom and when they are 
through blooming they are still 
