Perennials 
43 
A proper selection will insure bloom all 
summer long, but only the midsummer and 
autumn-blooming species come within our 
scope in the present instance, for these 
late-flowering kinds are the only ones that 
can be expected to flower the first year 
from seed. And many of even the late- 
autumn bloomers cannot be induced to 
blossom until the second year — but those 
I have not mentioned at all. There are 
less than twenty that are to be depended 
upon to give flowers the first year; and 
not all of these are hardy perennials — that 
is, they are not the kind that may stay 
out all winter without protection. Some, 
indeed, may not stay out at all, but have 
to be dug up by the roots and wintered in- 
side, in a cellar. But with twenty species 
— or even many less — there is still ample 
material for a garden; so the number is 
not discouragingly low, by any means. 
With every one of these let me em- 
phasize the fact that they must be started 
early indoors, or in the hotbed — the 
earlier the better. None will blossom this 
year which are not given an early start — 
at least it is not possible to say that any 
certainly will. The middle of February is 
