Perennials that Can 
Weather the Winter 
SOME OF THE HARDY PLANTS THAT SUCCESS^ 
FULLY WITHSTOOD A REMARKABLY SEVERE 
PERIOD OF COLD AND MOISTURE — SUGGES¬ 
TIVE CULTURAL HINTS 
by W. C. Eagan 
Photographs by Chas. Jones and Nathan R. Graves 
The phloxes are old garden favorites 
many plants rotted away. 
Plants that like moisture 
at the roots, like the cardi¬ 
nal flower — Lobelia cardi- 
nalis, Pyrethrum uliginosum and the Lysimachia clethroides, 
came through splendidly. Fall planted garden phlox and the Iris 
pallida Dalmatic a in my gar¬ 
den were killed, while old 
established plants were all 
right, but in sections near by 
they were killed by the hun¬ 
dreds. 
Of course such a combina¬ 
tion of unfavorable condi¬ 
tions may not occur again in 
thirty years, and we must not 
debar from our garden all of 
our old favorites that failed. 
At the same time a list of 
those that fought the battle 
and won — the survival of the 
fittest — would enable one to 
make a selection that would 
seem to be able to combat all 
conditions that might occur. 
Some plants that survived 
happened to be in positions 
that allowed drainage, such as 
the upper part of a narcissus 
bank where a slope allowed 
proper drainage, and my 
plants of Pyrethrum roseurn 
which border a cinder walk 
in the vegetable garden. The 
border not only runs down 
hill, but is higher than the 
walk as the garden is 
trenched up during the win¬ 
ter. There was a deep gully 
or ditch immediately behind 
the plants. They thus had 
drainage in three directions, 
and I lost but few out of 
a row of some eight plants. 
The following perennials 
and biennials came through 
the winter in good shape on 
my grounds, in spite of the 
trying conditions. From the 
list as given it should be possible to select hardy species which 
will meet any reasonable demands as far as beauty and variety are 
concerned as well as successfully withstand extremely severe 
winter weather. 
Achillea ptarmica, “The Pearl” 
of Chicago along the shores 
serves a medal of honor. It 
severity of the weather, for 
as a test of plant hardihood 
it is seldom equalled. 
In an experience of over 
twenty-five years I have 
never seen so many peren¬ 
nials winter-killed. The 
winter of 1898-9 probably 
did more damage to trees 
and shrubs, but near here 
it was not as destructive to 
perennials. Extreme pro¬ 
longed cold followed by an 
undue amount of moisture 
at their crowns caused the 
destruction. 
Under-drainage, light, 
porous soil and even raised 
beds availed nothing. The 
plants were in a mud bath 
for over ten days, and time- 
honored standbys such as 
the hardy garden phlox and 
the German iris succumbed 
in certain situations. Un¬ 
doubtedly the extreme cold 
injured some plants, espe¬ 
cially the shrubs, but I am 
satisfied that the main 
trouble occurred in the lat¬ 
ter part of March. 
There had been only a 
moderate fall of snow dur¬ 
ing the winter, and the 
ground was frozen perhaps 
three feet deep. In March 
we had two fairly heavy 
snow storms, w h i c h re¬ 
mained unmelted for about 
two weeks. This snow 
drew out the frost from 
below to a depth of about 
six inches, when a sudden 
thaw came and converted this 
a mushy mud. On banks or 
ensued, but on level surfaces 
mained in this condition for 
A NY perennial that sur¬ 
vived the destructive 
forces that prevailed in this 
section twenty miles north 
of Lake Michigan last winter de- 
is interesting to note the extreme 
The perennial garden if planted with the hardier sorts will withstand 
extremely severe winter weather and be ready to send forth a profusion 
of bloom the following year 
six inch zone of unfrozen soil into 
elevated positions, some drainage 
there was no escape. The soil re- 
over ten davs, and the crowns of 
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