November 2, 1882.] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 401 
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22nd Sunday after Trinity. 
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Sale of Poultry at Mr. Stevens’s Booms, Covent Garden. 
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Sale of Bulbs at the same Establishment. 
RENEWING and INCREASING HARDY HERBACEOUS 
PLANTS. 
is too commonly thought that all the care 
necessary for a border of hardy herbaceous 
plants is to plant them and leave them alone. 
This is considered by many to be the chief 
recommendation of these plants, as when once 
planted they require no labour in cultivation. 
It is quite true that by the use of hardy plants a 
gay garden may be had for ten months in the 
year at a far less expense than where a large number 
of tender plants are used ; still, bardy plants will not 
do well without constant attention from the owner or his gar¬ 
dener. The work required may be divided into four parts— 
first, increasing and renewing the plants ; second, renewing 
and dressing the soil ; third, keeping it clear of weeds ; fourth, 
tying up. The third and fourth items will suggest themselves 
to everyone, and little need be said about them. The mode of 
carrying out the second must depend partly on the nature of 
the soil, partly on the materials at disposal ; but I propose 
here to make a few general remarks on the first. 
For increasing and renovating stock October is, perhaps, the 
most important month in the year. Perhaps some may say, 
“ I do not want to increase my stock, as I prefer large plants 
to small, and have already plants enough." Still, there are 
very few plants which will continue to flower in their best 
style if left alone for several years, and most hardy plants 
require dividing or renewing every two or three years or they 
degenerate. This is recognised in the case of spring gardens, 
the plants for which are more generally cultivated than the 
later-flowering perennials. Gardeners divide and replant, or 
grow fresh from seed, their Daisies, their Forget-me-nots, their 
Pansies and Aubrietias, or they do not expect them to do well ; 
and the same ought to be done with Phloxes, Michaelmas 
Daisies, and similar plants. Some gardeners recommend en¬ 
tirely renewing and replanting a border once in three or four 
years ; but I think this a very bad plan. Hardy plants in a 
mixed border do not all reach the stage at which renewal is 
desirable or necessary in the same time. There will always be 
many plants, such as Lilies and other bulbs, which are better 
left alone, and a border generally looks untidy the first year 
after such a renewal. Sometimes the encroachments of weedy 
plants, like the Japanese Anemones, may render a clean sweep 
necessary, but it is far better to assign to such plants their 
proper bounds and to confine them within these. I never dig 
my mixed borders, and venture to say that they never ought to 
require digging. Every time a plant is placed in the border 
the soil is dug, and, if necessary, renewed round it, but no 
general digging is allowed. 
Some store beds, more or less according to the size of the 
garden, are necessary, and in these a constant succession of 
young plants must be kept to replace those which are past their 
best. As for the frequency with which each plant is to be 
renewed, it is impossible to give any general rule. Not only 
must the habits of each plant be studied and watched, but the 
kind of soil makes a very great difference. Generally plants 
increase and arrive at their best, and degenerate and wear out 
themselves or the soil, far quicker in a moist and rich soil than 
in a dry and poor one ; and plants, which in my garden cannot 
continue to flower well for three years if left to grow, will 
go on without any deterioration in a lighter soil for more than 
twice that time. 
Let us begin with Phloxes. Those who grow them as florist 
flowers give special rules for their cultivation, which are, per¬ 
haps, too troublesome to follow for those who only grow them 
for mixed-border decoration ; but we all wish to have what we 
grow as fine as we can, and Phloxes maybe kept fine with very 
little trouble. Unless spring cuttings brought on under glass 
are grown the rooted side shoots taken off in September make 
the best plants ; but if none of these is to be found, divide 
the plants in October and select a single well-rooted thin 
stalk with four or five shoots. These may be planted as close 
as convenient in a store bed for a year. Phloxes are so hardy 
that they may be transplanted any time during the winter. 
When you have the time dig up as many old and crowded 
plants as you have new year-old plants to replace. It is better 
not to put them in the same spot in which a plant of the same 
kind has already grown, unless the soil is renewed ; but do not 
enrich it too much for Phloxes. I used to think they liked 
plenty of manure, but they became so succulent and sappy 
that the bark of the stalk would split. A top-dressing when 
they come into bud is the best way of manuring them. I ad¬ 
vise that one-third of the Phloxes in the borders should be 
annually renewed. The finest heads of flowers are generally 
on the two-year-old plants. 
Asters require the same treatment, except that amongst the 
many scores of varieties there are some w T eak and slow growers, 
which experience will discover. Others increase so fast that 
if not annually divided they over-run the border, and even 
some of the best kinds are amongst these rapid growers. 
These do not require any nursery bed to rear them, but may be 
divided and replanted at once, pulling the stalks asunder in 
October, and replanting one or two stalks according to the 
number of shoots they bear; but by all means let the soil be 
dressed. Friends give me Asters which in a year’s time they 
cannot recognise from their increased size and improved ap¬ 
pearance, because I give them real cultivation, which they 
have never done. Few plants respond to liberal treatment 
and attention better than perennial Asters. 
The Monarda is a plant which is accustomed to die quite out 
if left alone, and yet a piece the size of a square foot is enough 
to fill a garden in a year if properly treated. A small rooted 
piece with three or four shoots planted in rich new soil in 
October will make a grand show in the following July. 
Spiraeas are the easiest of all plants to divide, as they may 
be cut with a spade into well-rooted clumps and never seem to 
feel the operation ; but such plants as the double S. Ulmaria 
No. 123 .—'Von. V., Third Series. 
No. 1779.—Yol. LXYIIL, Old Series. 
