4 
each other ; such plants should be discard: 
ed, as the roots are split unavoidably. and 
bruised. in getting them straightened, and — 
they decay in most cases. In shrub plant- 
ing more care is necessary in preparing 
the soil. The whole of the ground should 
be brcken up 2 ft. deep, as very few shrubs 
are able to penetrate ordinary solid soils. 
They are more particular as to quality of 
soil, and this is the reason some choice 
shrubs can hardly exist where others thrive 
well. This difficulty is overcome by tho- 
roughly preparing the whole of the soil 
of the’ intended shrubbery. Manure liber- 
ally where the soil is of poor quality. As 
the larger growing shrubs are much hardier 
and less particular as to quality of soil 
and are planted in the back rows, -the 
of these require a better or richer prepared 
soil. The most economical method of 
manuring the ground for a shrubbery is to 
divide it longitudinally into three strips. 
The front strip, where .border bedding 
plants and the most dwarf and, choice 
shrubs are planted, should receive three 
portions of manure; the second strip, two 
portions; and the back strip, one portion. 
In this way each class of plant will receive 
just what and as much as it requires. 
Neither does it matter what kind of 
manure be used—whether well-decayed 
stable dung, bonedust, or superphosphate— 
the portion should be the same. As re- 
gards the actual planting of shrubs, with 
the exception of very tall-growitig kinds, 
there is no necessity for disturbing the 
roots as in the case of trees, although there 
is nc harm in laying them out; but the 
tholes should be prepared in a similar man- 
ner, namely, a cone formed in the centre 
of the hole, and any roots that shake out 
readily laid evenly downwards. The whole 
of the ground being broken up, it is un- 
necessary to open large holes, but they 
should be large enough to spread out the 
roots in a proper manner. The layering of 
trees and shrubs should be done during the 
month. This is a much quicker way of 
securing plants of certain kinds than from 
seeds, as fair-sized, well-rooted specimens 
may be grown in one season. ‘The follow- 
ing root readily in this way—ficuses, can- 
tuag, escallonias, laurels, azaleas, boronias, 
ceonothus, diosma, euonymous, hibiscus, 
ligustrums,, magnolia, neriums, and vero- 
nicas. It is seldom necessary to tongue 
these layers or remove any bark, because if 
buried at the deepest part, some 6 in. deep, 
and kept constantly moist either by rain 
or artificially they invariably root well. 
All evergreen edgings to paths, &c., should 
bo put in, as box, lavender, fairy rose, &c.; 
if cuttings are used the lines should be dug 
deeply and 18 in. wide, and the cuttings, 
which are made 6 in. long, put in 4 in. deep. 
Tyead them in firmly and water thoroughly. 
_ Agricultural Gazette of N.S, W. 
HERBACEOUS PLANTS FOR THE: 
OPEN BORDER. 
By Writam Rem. 
J don’t think there is a more interesting 
class of plants than, hardy herbaceous 
plants. They’ give us a show from earliest 
_ ground of shrubbery. 
‘of some kind. 
a0 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. . 
_ spring until hard, freezing weather sets in. 
‘they never get monctonous, as every week 
something different comes into bloom. The 
ideal place, in my opinion, for a herbaceous 
Lorder is at the edge of a lawn with a back- 
In such a position 
the plants show to the best advantage. 
Also they and the shrubs harmonise well 
together. But a border alongside a wall, 
cr tence, is also an excellent position. A 
herbaceous border around a kitchen garden 
looks well, too, but in such a place I would 
drive in posts and have a trellis of wire 
behind the border, so that I could grow all 
the different varieties of vines. ‘ 
A ‘herbaceous border does not show. to 
gcod advantage unless it has a background 
In planting the border I 
would endeavor to plant each kind in masses 
or groups by themselves; the effect is more 
striking than having the plants all mixed 
up. 
The preparation of the border is another 
very important matter; unless a good 
depth of good soil is afforded good ‘results 
will not be secured. To have good success 
cne should have at least 2 ft. of good soil, 
with perfect drainage. If the soil is of a 
sandy or gravelly nature, I would dig it out 
and replace it with good soil, using plenty 
cf good, retten manure in its preparation. 
I am well aware of the fact that a good 
many hardy plants like light, sandy soil; 
but, in general, they all flourish in good, 
rich ground. ; 
In planting the border, I would prefer 
early Fall for the work, with the exception 
of such plants as candytufts, gaillardias, 
hclianthus, also some of the sunflowers. My 
experience has been that sometimes these 
get winter killed transplanted late in the 
season. By planting at the time -men- 
tioned they will have a chance to get good 
root-hold before hard, freezing weather sets 
in. And they will make a better showing 
the following summer than if planted in 
spring, for the reason that sometimes we 
get a hot, dry spell of weather early in the 
season which gives them quite a check. 
In regard to covering the border for the 
winter, my practice has been for a good 
many years, with good success, to spread 
good, rotten manure in between the plants, 
and level it off nicely in the spring with a 
rake. Leaving it on, the surface helps to 
keep the ground moist and cool, and pre- 
vents the ground from baking; also tends 
to keep down the weeds. 
But I would not cover plants of an evei- 
green nature with short manure, as they 
would be very apt to rot if the weather 
should be mild during winter. I would 
much prefer to use marsh hay, or anything 
of a similar nature. 
To have the border look its best I would, 
by all means, at least once a week, go 
through it and cut off all dead flowers, with 
the exception of any that I wanted for seed 
purposes; this adds greatly to the appear- 
ance, and, besides, the most of them will 
bloom longer by doing so. Be sure to keep 
the hoe going to keep the weeds down. It 
is a very easy matter to keep down the 
June 1, 1905 
weeds when they are small; a scuffle hoe 
is best for the work. 
f would plant all the various kinds of 
spring flowering bulbs, such as winter aco- 
nite, snowdvrops, scillas, crocus, fritillariag, 
chicnedoxas, daffodils, and others. Not in 
hundreds, but thousands, of each kind by 
itself. They are more effective in masses 
than a few scattered here and there. And 
when they are through flowering I would 
plant hardy annuals, such as Phiox Drun- 
mondil, scabicsas, zinnias, marigolds, cal- 
liopsis, Dianthus chinensis, salpiglossis, and 
others. For that purpose I would make a 
sewing of the above named annuals about 
the second week in May. 
I will now name those which, in my esti- 
mation, are the most choice of all the her- 
baceous plants. There are others equally 
as gocd, but it would take too long to de- 
seriba them. About the first to bloom is 
the Iris reticulata. It is a bulbous plant, 
growing about a foot high, with violet 
purple flowers. Then we have the hepati- 
cas, with white and pink flowers; they do 
best in a shady position. Arabis albida, ox 
rock cress, is a low growing plant, with 
white flowers, very pretty for the front of 
the border; easily raised from seed or divi- 
sion. Alyssum saxatile compactum is an- 
other beautiful plant with yellow flowers ; 
a mass of it is very effective. It is easily 
raised from seed. Phiox subulata, or moss 
pink, is a handsome evergreen creeping 
plant; there are several varieties, and all 
are beautiful, being very easily raised from 
cuttings in September. Planted in a shady 
place, they root in a short time if kept 
moist. The Dielytra spectabilis, or bleed- 
ing heart, is one of the handsomest of all 
the herbaceous plants, blooming carly in 
spring, with beautiful foliage, and racemes 
of heart-shaped red and white flowers. The 
variety eximia is a dwarfer plant, with 
fern-like foliage and smaller flowers, bloom- 
ing more or less all summer. Corydalis no-— 
bilis is another beautiful plant belonging 
to the same order, with handsome foliage 
end yellow flowers. They are readily in- 
creased by division. The aubretias, or 
purple rock cress, are beautiful low-growing 
plants, with various shades of purple and 
pink flowers; easily raised from seed. The 
cpimedium is. another early blooming 
plant, very pretty for the front of the box- 
der, with pink, white, and yellow flowers, 
increased by division. The doronicums are 
very showy plants with large yellow daisy- 
like flowers, growing about 2 to 3 ft, high. 
The geums are very pretty, with red straw- 
berry-like flowers; the double varieties are 
the best. They are best raised every year 
from seed, as they are liable to rot out dur- 
ing winter. The trollius, or globe flower, 
are handsome, easily blooming plants, with 
beautiful foliage and globe-shaped, yellow 
blooms; height when in flower, about 1 ft. 
Then we have the early flowering Vero- 
nicas, cerenoides, and rupestris, low grow- 
ing plants, with blue flowers lasting quite 
along time. There are other varieties of 
veronicas which’ bloom later in the season 
but I think the best of all is Veronica longi: — 
folia subsessilis, which flowers about the Jat- 
