he iZ Loneteed Border 
Here is a hobby just as much an art form as painting. 
With a perennial border you paint with plants. That’s the 
only difference. But instead of reaching a static end, 
as does a picture, your perennial border is never finished. 
Also, the picture changes constantly during the summer as 
different plants come into bloom. It is a picture in depth 
—a fact that may increase its popularity in this age of 
third dimension. And no two perennial borders are alike. 
Yours, therefore, is unique — uniquely your expression of 
the art of arranging living, changing bloom and shades 
of green. 
We have found that building a border is merely the 
problem of getting started. It need not be large to be 
effective. Our white perennial border (after which The 
Farm is named) began as a 4’ x 4’ affair fifteen years 
ago. It’s now 70 feet long and 6 feet wide. We have 
no plan for adding to length (no more room). 
Now this border of ours never had any special prepara- 
tion. Its soil used to grow fine weeds and we figured if the 
weeds were killed out, the soil, with a little help, would 
grow flowers. It did. Topsoil is not more than 10 inches 
thick. We dig in a little old cow manure every other 
season; occasionally sprinkle a little lime around lime- 
loving plants like Delphinium; early each spring we give 
it a shot of an organic fertilizer (Milorganite), but if that 
isn’t handy we use any ordinary chemical fertilizer. 
We've never sent off a soil sample for analysis and 
although in an expansive moment we once bought a kit 
of chemicals for $15.00 and made innumerable tests, the 
kit went into disuse quickly—couldn’t tell for the life of 
us what the test tubes were saying. 
The plants themselves signal their condition quickly. 
If leaves are nicely green they have enough nitrogen. 
If stalks stand erect after a storm it is likely that enough 
phosphorus and potassium are available. Lime, a ‘sweet- 
ener’’, should be used gingerly because most plants like 
soil slightly on the sour” side. It takes very little reading 
in catalogues or garden books to find out about those 
relatively few plants that like to be doused with lime. 
So douse them. Just don’t overfeed plants, keep them 
lean and strong. The point here is that chemicals, 
organic or inorganic, are strong foods —too much nitro- 
gen, for example, will grow mighty fine leaves, few 
flowers. A gardener is always safe with old cow manure 
(a year or more). 
Most of the stuff you read in the garden publications, 
Spal 
Sime 4A wr 15! 
those minute, multitudinous directions to do this or that at 
a specific time, can scare the wadding out of even an 
experienced gardener. Take this talk with a grain of salt 
(we've found that plants are most durable things, actually 
takes work to kill one). All you need is the experience of 
a season or two behind you. Then take a look at your 
thumbs. When they are kind of grimy and calloused a 
bit (not green) you’re on your way. 
How about care? Well, a little shallow weeding is 
all right but don’t dig deep; it’s hard on your back and 
bad for perennials. Deep cultivation destroys the delicate 
feeding roots which form close to the surface. Spraying? 
Modern spraying and dusting materials are so efficient 
and simple to use this is no problem. 
The selection of plants is your option. This catalogue 
will tell you color, height and other growth characteris- 
tics of most perennials. Plant low growing perennials 
in front, medium height ones in the middle, tall ones at 
the back. It is also a good idea to plant some annuals 
to take care of bare spots. We suggest planting tulips, 
naricissus and lilies in clumps rather than in a broadcast 
planting—then you know their locations, keeps you from 
cutting their heads off when you are cleaning up in 
spring; also you can get at them easily when they need 
thinning or replacement. 
The two Perennial Borders on this page are bare-bone 
plans on which to build. You should not expect too much 
bloom this year as the plants will not be established 
until they have spent a season in place. German Iris, 
Peonies and some other species can be planted later; 
just tuck them in between other plants. Fall is the time to 
plant bulbs. The bloom you admire today is the result 
of what you did a year, or perhaps two years ago. Your 
changing flower picture, therefore, has a most satis- 
factory continuity, pleasurable delayed rewards. 
Vege 1% =e 
oo os 
4’ x 15’ Perennial Border $45.95 
Note: The numeral before the variety is the key to the planting 
plan above; the numeral after the variety indicates quantity. 
1 Delphinium mixed 3; 2 Hemerocallis Imperator 3; 3 Pole- 
monium Richardsoni 3; 4 Lupine mixed 3; 5 Iris Wabash 2; 
6 Phlox Von Lassburg 5; 7 Daisy Mt. Shasta 3; 8 Dicentra 
Spectabilis 2; 9 Veronica Blue Spire 3; 10 Anchusa Dropmore 
3; 11 Liatris September Glory 3; 12 Aquilegia Mrs. Scott 
Elliott 4; 13 Iberis Purity 3; 14 Dicentra Exima 3; 15 Dianthus 
Salmon Unique 3; 16 Dianthus Moonmist 3; 17 Companula 
Carpatica 7; 18 Dianthus Wallace Red 3; 19 Platycodon 
Grandiflorum 4; 20 Viola Lutea Splendens 3. Sixty-six plants; 
20 varieties—value about $65.00. With each border we will 
ship, no charge, 23 Marie Antoinette Fraises des Bois to edge 
the ends and front. (Only 50 4’ x 15’ Borders offered this year.) 
Size 4 Br io’ 
4’x 10’ Perennial Border $27.50 
Note: The numeral before the variety is the key to the plant- 
ing plan above; the numeral after the variety indicates quan- 
tity. | Delphinium mixed 3; 2 Iris Siberica Snow Queen 3; 3 
Phlox Mary Louise 4; 4 Heuchera Mary Rose 2; 5 Aquilegia 
Mrs. Scott Elliott 2; 6 Gaillardia Portola Hyb. 2; 7 Hemero- 
callis Linda 2; 8 Dianthus Her Majesty 5; 9 Dicentra Exima 3; 
10 Veronica Blue Spires 3; 11 Iberis Purity 4; 12 Dianthus 
Salmon Unique 4; 13 Daisy Mt. Shasta 2. Thirty-nine plants, 
13 varieties — value about $38.50. With each border we will 
ship, no charge, 18 Marie Antoinette Fraises des Bois to edge 
the ends and front. (Only 100 4’ x 10’ Borders offered this 
year.) 
White Flower Farm SPRING, 1954 21 
