Edging Plants that May be Increased 
by Root Division 
By IDA D. BENNETT 
T HE use of plants as an edging or border to the 
flower beds doubles its blooming capacity 
and, where the area of one’s garden is re¬ 
stricted, is of value from an economic as well as an 
esthetic point of view. There are few, if any, beds 
but what are improved by the addition of some low 
growing plant around the edge, bringing the flower 
bed into relation with the sod without any intervening 
strip of bare soil. If a plant that gives bloom in 
harmony with the taller occupant of the bed, so 
much the better. 
I remember seeing once in Eastern New York a 
garden, a vegetable garden, where the vegetables 
were grown in well-arranged beds each of which was 
edged with a plant of lower growth and contrasting 
color such as parsley, a lew growing blood-red beet, 
bronzy lettuce or the like and the effect of the let¬ 
tuce with the purple foliage of the egg plants, of the 
parsley with the deep red of the beet, was something 
to be remembered as an evidence of artistic faculty 
not often applied to the common things of life. One 
looks for artistic effects in the lawn and flower 
garden, but the one who conceives and carries out 
the possibilities in the common kitchen garden is a 
genius; and yet how simple and practical it is; no 
space wasted, no plants grown but what would have 
ordinarily been required, but the ability to recognize 
the beautiful amid lowly surroundings and deftly 
place it in artistic combinations. 
From an economic standpoint, taking the question 
of labor involved in the annual setting of borders, the 
hardy perennial border is greatly to be preferred to 
the annual one. Fortunately there is a goodly 
array of plants to choose from so that much individual 
taste may be indulged in their selection. One of the 
most easily started and grown is the Phlox suhulata, 
or moss pink as it is sometimes called. Planted in 
early spring, setting the plants a few inches apart, 
it will by fall have closed up the gap and early in 
May, the following spring, be a mass of bloom, com¬ 
pletely covering the foliage from sight. This comes 
in pink and in white and the only care it requires is to 
keep it trimmed close to the boundaries assigned to it 
as it has a penchant for carpeting everything in sight. 
All dead growth should be promptly removed as a 
straggly, ill-kept border is a disfigurement in place 
of an adornment. 
1 he plants may be increased by dividing the bran¬ 
ches, as they will root wherever they touch the ground 
and in this fact consists their great value for carpet 
bedding, covering graves and the like, as from their 
multiplicity of roots they are able to extract more 
nourishment from the soil than plants with only one 
root. The plants may be divided at any time after 
they are through flowering or very early in the spring. 
No daintier, more cheerful plant for the border can 
be desired than the English daisy, Bellis perennis. 
Easily started from seed in the spring it forms small 
rosette-shaped plants that by fall may be divided 
into several plants, or as many as there are crowns, 
and in this way soon furnish a long border. The 
seed may be started in boxes in the house, in the hot¬ 
bed, or in the open ground. In purchasing seed care 
should be taken to secure a good strain of' the large 
flowered, double variety and as the flowers come into 
bloom all single or semi-double plants should be 
weeded out. The English daisy seeds very freely 
and plants are constantly coming up in unexpected 
places that greatly increase one’s stock. 
They may be divided in the spring or in the fall. 
Lift the plants and taking hold of each crown, of which 
there will be several, pull gently apart and set the new 
plants three or four inches apart. Each plant will 
yield from five to seven new plants. Plants which 
have not bloomed too freely during summer may be 
lifted, potted and grown in a cool north window in 
winter if desired. 
Under the head of primroses many hardy border 
plants are classified, chief of which are the auriculas, 
polyanthus of our grandmother’s garden and the 
English cowslip. All are easily raised from seed and 
will gladden the garden in early spring with a wealth 
of bright blossoms. The English cowslip comes in 
pale yellow not unlike our native cowslip of the bogs 
and marshes and is always the source of tender, 
homesick memories to those who have watched it 
grow in English lanes and Irish meadows. A he 
polyanthus comes in various shades of red and orange, 
the double cups being usually a bright red or scarlet 
with yellow throat and present a brilliant appearance 
in the spring sunshine. It should have protection 
in the winter which should not be removed entirely 
until all danger of frost is past as the cold is liable 
to affect the color of the blossoms rendering them 
duller. All the varieties of primroses may be divided 
by pulling apart the crowns and resetting them after 
they are through flowering in the spring; they will 
then become established before cold weather. Seed 
may be sown in the house, hotbed or cold frame and 
the plants transplanted into permanent position when 
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