HARDY PERENNIALS
A PERENNIAL is a plant that comes up year after year, and increases as
it grows older. We will tell you how to grow fourteen of the best, and
when you have succeeded with those you can find hundreds more described
in ‘The English Flower Garden’ and other well-known books. Your parents
and grandparents can remember when all the beautiful herbaceous or
perennial plants were hardly to be found in gardens, and everyone was
content with the straight rows of red, blue, and yellow, the ignorant
gardener will still inflict on you if you let him. In those days bulbs
were planted in autumn and dug up in spring, to make way for Geraniums,
Calceolarias, and Lobelias. Everyone grew the same things, had an
ugly clash of colour at the same moment, and bare brown borders for
the greater part of the year. Then came some of the great gardeners
of thirty years ago, who set the gardening world ablaze with their
reforms and their audacities. They told people how dull and stupid
their gardens were, and how to make them beautiful and interesting. It
was not their fault if some of their disciples ran away with the idea
that a herbaceous border was the easiest thing in the world to manage,
and were grievously disappointed to find that it was not. As a matter
of fact, the incompetent gardener and the local nurseryman had known
very well what they were about all the time. It is expensive, but not
difficult, to stuff your borders full of Dutch bulbs in November, and
full of little plants out of pots in May. You could do it yourself
with money and a length of string tied to two sticks, for you must
get your lines straight. But, then, think of all the beautiful plants
you would never see in your garden—plants that, to come to their full
beauty, must be left undisturbed until they show you who understand
them that they are ready for your attention, and require fresh soil
or possibly division. In most gardens there are some beds that are
planted twice a year, because a show of spring and autumn colour is
wanted in them; but in all gardens managed with any skill or knowledge
there are now also herbaceous borders, where you will find all the
plants we are going to tell you about, many other perennials for which
we have no room, and some annuals, hardy and half hardy. The finest
bit of gardening known to one of the authors is the herbaceous border
at Hampton Court, and she must admit that she knows neither the Palace
nor its pictures nearly as well as the noble groups of plants that all
through the summer and autumn make a blaze of colour there. If you have
any good garden of hardy perennials within reach, you should visit it
at different times of the year, and try to learn some lesson about the
habit and arrangement of the plants. You will come back to your own
garden in despair, but that is better for you than staying at home and
being too easily satisfied. It is well to know the best that is done in
any art or industry one tries to practise.
The hardy perennials we are going to describe will flourish in any
English garden that has good, well-dressed soil, and is open to the sun
part of the day. In choosing which you will grow you must consider
their colours, their height, their flowering season, and the rate at
which they increase. You should not give a delicate-looking plant like
a Columbine a coarse spreading neighbour that will choke it. Nearly
all herbaceous plants are greedy feeders, and require a deep, well-dug
soil. If you cannot have manure worked in, perhaps you can buy a little
bone-meal and soot. In any case, you should dig the ground well over
before planting, break up hard lumps, and remove large stones.
HARDY PERENNIALS.
1. Polyanthus and Coloured Primrose.
2. Delphinium, or Larkspur.
3. Oriental Poppy.
4. Iris Germanica.
5. Perennial Lupin.
6. Japanese Anemone.
7. Aquilegia, or Columbine.
8. Peony.
9. Œnothera Fruticosa, or Evening Primrose.
10. Gypsophila Paniculata.
11. Sweet Lavender.
12. Early-flowering Chrysanthemums.
13. Violet.
14. Michaelmas Daisy.
PRIMROSE AND POLYANTHUS.
There are more than a hundred kinds of Primrose, or Primula; nearly
all are hardy, and many grow in clusters on a single stalk. We are
only going to tell you about the common Polyanthus, which grows in big
clusters, and about the coloured garden Primrose, which is mostly found
with single flowers, like the yellow Primrose of our fields and hedges.
Perhaps you have heard of Peter Bell, and how
‘A Primrose by the river’s brim
A yellow Primrose was to him,
And it was nothing more.’
We have met many a Peter Bell, who stared at us in amazement when
he saw us planting corners in a wild garden with what he considered
hedgerow weeds.
But nowadays people who have gardens try to see with the poet’s eye,
rather than with the eyes of a Peter Bell. In the moist, shady places
of your garden you may plant Primroses and Polyanthuses in colonies,
and leave them to grow into great clumps and to seed themselves. But
the best of them, those that you want to increase, you must pull to
pieces when they have done flowering, and plant out in a shady corner.
When you take up a clump you will usually see that it divides easily
into several plants. You need not be afraid to use a knife in some
places. Our experience is that every bit will grow, provided it has
a few roots and plenty of shade and moisture during the hot summer
months. When autumn comes you will have increased your stock without
expense, and can plant out your young ones wherever you want them. If
you want blue Primroses, division is more certain than seed. But it is
a most fascinating business to grow Primroses from a good strain of
seed, and not too difficult for a child to manage. You must get one of
the empty sweetmeat or fancy soap boxes so invaluable to gardeners, and
ask someone to make half a dozen holes in the bottom with a gimlet,
or even a nail. Put in broken crocks and fine moist earth, just as we
told you to do for annuals; then sow and lightly cover your Primrose
or Polyanthus seed, put your box in the shade, keep off slugs, and
possess your soul in patience, for the seed takes a long while to
germinate, and you may not see any tiny crinkled leaves for weeks. When
you do see them you must wait till they are large enough to prick out,
and even then we advise you to take them up carefully and keep the
box of soil for a time, as backward seeds often come up later. Fresh
seed will germinate more quickly than last year’s, so you can either
buy a packet in June and wait some time for results, or you can sow
your own ripe seed in August, in which case your little plants should
be big enough by the end of November to survive an ordinary English
winter. If you sow in June, you should be able to prick out a good
many little plants in August (on a damp day), and these will be ready
for a front border by the following spring. When you prick out put
the little plants in rows three inches apart each way; choose a shady
place, and look out for slugs. It may be necessary to dust with soot
or lime. Primroses and Polyanthuses make a charming border, either by
themselves or mixed with other hardy plants that flower in spring,
such as Aubrietias, the yellow Alyssum, and Iberis; or they look
well in clumps on a rockery. If you have a whole row of them in front
of your border, you should, if possible, take them up when they have
done flowering, and, if they are worth keeping, put them in some shady
unseen corner through the summer months. The hot sun makes their leaves
yellow and shabby-looking, and if you can shift them you can have a
summer edging of some dwarf annual or bedding plant. For instance, when
you take up your Primroses you can sow your Tom Thumb Nasturtiums,
or, if you are near nurserymen, you can buy some dwarf Snapdragons or
some blue Lobelias. We would never have a straight row of anything but
Sweet-peas if we could help it, and in a mixed border such as yours
even they would look better grown in the round clumps. But we warn you
that this question of rows or clumps is a burning one, about which even
the two authors of one book are not always agreed. You will have to
fight it out with your garden and your gardening friends.
DELPHINIUM, OR LARKSPUR.
Everyone who grows any herbaceous plants grows some Delphiniums,
because they make a fine background, and are such lovely shades of
blue. Mr. Robinson says they range from one to nine feet high, but we
think yours will probably be from three to four feet high, and that
you should put them at the back of your border, with white Lupins,
Starworts, and Evening Primroses. They flower in June and July, and
make large clumps if left undisturbed for several years. There are two
ways of prolonging their flowering season. You can cut off each flower
before it begins to form seed-pods, or you can cut down the whole plant
when its leaves begin to look shabby, and let it start afresh, as it
did in the spring. But this would exhaust your plant if you did not
give it extra food; so if you cut it down, it should have a little
liquid manure. A teaspoonful of Clay’s Fertilizer to a gallon of water
would do very well. Delphiniums like manure, but they will grow in
almost any soil, and are easy to raise from seed—at least, the seed
germinates easily. They can be sown in May if you buy the seed, or in
August if you wait for your own to ripen. You sow them in a box, and
prick them out when large enough to handle. When they are a year old
they begin to flower, but a plant does not make a good clump till it
is two or three years old. The culture of Delphiniums would present no
difficulties if slugs were not so fond of them. In some gardens it is
almost impossible to grow these beautiful flowers, because the slugs
devour both the seedlings and the young shoots of the older plants the
moment they appear. You must not put them in places where slugs can
hide easily and come out at night to feed. If you want to increase
your stock by division, you should do it either in spring or in damp
summer weather, about a fortnight after you have cut your plant down.
The autumn is not a good time. If you live in a cold climate you should
give your Delphiniums a little protection in winter, but this is not
necessary in most parts of England. Anyhow, when spring comes and open
weather, take care that your covering of dead bracken or manure is not
protecting slugs.
PAPAVER ORIENTALE, OR ORIENTAL POPPY.
Papaver Orientale and its variety Papaver Bracteatum are the biggest
of all Poppies. The flowers are brilliant scarlet, with a deep
purple-black spot at the base of each petal. If you gather the buds
just as they are about to burst, they will live in water for several
days. After the plants have flowered they should be cut down, and they
will reappear in the autumn. They have long tap-roots that are easily
injured, but where they flourish they spread laterally—that is, they
send up young plants at the side. These you can take up. Whenever a
plant has a root like a carrot, it is called a ‘tap-root,’ and you must
be careful not to break it. Poppies are easily raised from seed, but
the plants will not flower till they are two years old. When you take
up your seedlings, remove each one with as much earth as possible, and
plant it where it is to remain.
IRISES.
Roughly speaking, Irises may be divided into two classes—those you
grow from bulbs, and those that have rhizomes, or creeping stems. The
bulbous Irises are often called Xiphions, and will not be considered
in this chapter. There is a great variety amongst those that have
rhizomes, or stems. They vary a good deal as to the soil and conditions
they require. Some like damp, some hate it; some want stiff soil,
some a light one; manure that feeds one Iris will poison another; and
as for their blooming season, it extends throughout the year if you
have a large collection. The Iris is sometimes called the ‘poor man’s
Orchid,’ because it can be grown without trouble or expense, and has
such beautiful and curious flowers. We will tell you the names of a
few that you can get at any good nursery garden; but before you plant
them you must consider that each kind is only in flower for a short
time, and that for the greater part of the year a clump of Irises is
a clump of sword-like leaves. They are sometimes placed amongst roses
or in front of shrubs. The best known of all is the Iris Germanica, or
German Flag. There are many varieties, and there is hardly a garden in
or near London without some clumps of it, for even in soot and smoke it
will increase and flower. The beautiful white, pale mauve Florentine
Iris is the French Fleur-de-lis, and was freely planted in English
gardens when the Bourbons were restored in 1830. It increases rapidly,
and is easy of cultivation. Iris Stylosa is one of the most valuable,
because it flowers in winter, and is very fragrant. Then, some of the
dwarf Irises are most beautiful, and should have a corner in front of
your border or on your rockery. Iris Pumila or its varieties grow some
inches high, and flower in spring. Iris Olbiensis and Iris Chamæris
belong to this group, and in warm localities flower at the end of
April or early in May. These kinds all thrive best in an open, warm
situation. Irises are easily divided in the autumn, but each piece
should have an eye to grow from, a little knot or knob that is on the
rhizomatous root. If you want your Irises indoors, you should gather
them in bud, and arrange them and some of their leaves in a bowl, with
the help of some soft lead and a few stones. You can get the Japanese
lead at most big shops now for a few pence, but any ironmonger could
supply you with strips of thin sheet-lead. A pennyworth of copper wire
twisted into a tangle is even better, but this is not so generally
known.
LUPINUS POLYPHYLLUS ALBUS.
There are blue and white Lupins, and both kinds flower at the same time
and require the same treatment. We advise you to choose the white
one if you have blue Delphiniums, as they will come out together, and
make your garden gay all through June. Slugs are very fond of Lupins,
and you often find a fine spike just about to flower half eaten away.
Unless you want to increase your stock from seed, you should cut off
the flowers as they fade, in order to prolong the flowering season. The
plants may be left undisturbed year after year, and will make large
clumps that grow from three to six feet high. If you take up a Lupin
you will find it has huge tap-roots, and on this account it is not an
easy plant to transplant or divide. When you want to move them, you
must do it in the autumn, after the leaves have died down. The seeds
come up easily if you sow them in a box, and the seedlings flower the
second year; but if you have blue and white Lupins, the seed from your
white Lupin will produce many washed-out blue flowers.
WHITE JAPANESE ANEMONE.
This is a large white Anemone with golden anthers. It begins to bloom
in August, and goes on right through the autumn, long after our summer
flowers have gone. Any bit of root you can buy or get given will grow,
but when once you have planted it you should leave it alone year after
year. It hates being disturbed, and will only make the huge flowering
clump you want when it is well established. It likes a rich soil, and
grows very well in half-shady places.
AQUILEGIA, OR COLUMBINE.
If you gather the flower of a Columbine and look at it upside down,
you will see why people say it is like little doves drinking, and how
it gets its name of Columbine from the Latin word for dove. In some
parts of England they grow wild, but the beautiful orange, yellow, and
scarlet ones come from America, and the blue and white Alpine ones from
Switzerland and the Pyrenees. In our climate they are uncertain as
perennials. You may have a garden where they live for years, or you may
find that your good ones die off every year. They like well-drained,
well-nourished, rather light, moist soil, and a half-shady position.
If you have heavy clay land, you will probably not succeed well with
them. Where they are happy they seed themselves easily, and you see
a whole colony of tiny plants coming up round their parent; so be
careful how you weed near a good Columbine after it has flowered. These
seedlings may be left till the spring, and then planted where they are
to stand. The best way to acquire a stock is to buy a packet of seed of
the long-spurred varieties, and to manage them as we have told you to
manage other seeds of perennial flowers. If you sow in June you should
be able to plant out in autumn, and one of the great growers tells you
to put three plants in a triangle three inches apart, but we think this
is too near. As the leaves die down in winter, you should put labels
where you set your plants. When you have a great many seedlings from
a mixed packet, do not keep only the biggest and strongest specimens,
or you may find next summer that you have all one colour. Some of the
choicest varieties look rather small and weak when they are young.
PEONY.
When Keats talked of the wealth of ‘globèd Peony,’ he was thinking
of the old-fashioned red ones that make such a splendid splash of
colour in a garden, but were out of favour at one time because they
were considered too flamboyant for people with refined tastes. Your
grandmother would have looked disapprovingly at a hoyden whose face
was as red as a Peony, and she probably thought the flowers very well
in a cottage garden, but not in her own. But in these days of hockey
and lawn-tennis Atalanta’s face may be as red as she pleases—no one
will call her a hoyden; and the Peonies are no longer globed, but
wide-open and wide-eyed, like an Anemone, and lovely shades of palish
pink and white. You can still grow the old red one if you wish. It is
called ‘officinalis,’ and, like all Peonies, should have four feet of
space allowed for the bush it will make in two or three years’ time.
Some of the most beautiful new ones are half single, with a mass of
golden stamens in the centre, and many are sweet-scented. They should
not be planted on an east border, because then the sun catches the
dewdrops still on the blooms, and converts them into burning glasses.
They will grow in any rich soil and in any position, but if you give
them moderate shade their flowers last longer and are more intense in
colour. It is a good plan to pinch off the buds of your first-year
plants, so that all the strength goes into the roots and leaves. You
may leave them undisturbed for years, but if you can top-dress them in
autumn so much the better. Peonies form large woody roots, with little
knobs or crowns on them. They may be divided in autumn by carefully
cutting apart the roots, leaving several crowns on each piece. These
should be planted only two inches below the soil.
EVENING PRIMROSE (ŒNOTHERA FRUTICOSA).
There are a good many varieties of the Evening Primrose, and one of
the most common will be described in the chapter on Biennials. The
Œnothera Fruticosa is a true perennial, and as it flowers all through
the summer, it is a useful plant to have in your border. It grows about
two feet high, so it should be placed about the middle, with taller
plants behind it. All Evening Primroses like a warm, sunny position,
and a good sandy soil. ‘Fruticosa’ is easily raised from seed sown in
the open ground in June, and pricked off when large enough to flower
next year. It may also be divided in spring or autumn.
GYPSOPHILA PANICULATA.
This forms a little bush of tiny white flowers, and sprays of it are
charming when mixed with other flowers. It thrives in any soil when
once it is established, but it dies quite down in winter, and shows
itself rather late in spring; so you must be sure to mark it with
a label in the autumn, and look out for slugs when the new leaves
push up. We have found it a most difficult plant to transplant or
divide, and we strongly advise the inexperienced gardener to leave any
specimens he has alone. Gypsophila Paniculata can be grown from seed
sown in the open ground in May, and moved into the flowering border in
September; but you are not likely to want many plants of it, and we
think you would find it more satisfactory to buy two or three from one
of the many nurserymen who raise it in large quantities.
SWEET LAVENDER.
This plant is a small perennial shrub, and not a true herbaceous
perennial; but we think that every child will wish to have at least
one Lavender bush, if not more, in the garden. If you choose you can
make a charming hedge of Lavender mixed with little pink monthly Roses.
You can easily increase your supply by taking cuttings in August and
planting them in light sandy soil. You must make a slanting slice
across your cutting just beneath the joint, take off every scrap of
green leaf from the lower part of the stem, and plant firmly three
inches deep in sandy soil. They should strike and make good roots by
the following spring. Lavender may also be grown from seed sown in
boxes in April, and kept covered with a glass till the little plants
appear. This may take some time, and you must be careful to keep the
soil moist by watering with a fine rose. When your plants are an inch
high, prick out in rows and leave them for a year. By the second year
they should begin to bloom. Gather your flowers for keeping on a dry
day, and just before they are fully expanded.
EARLY-FLOWERING CHRYSANTHEMUMS.
Many of these are quite hardy, come up year after year, and require
little attention. All chrysanthemums are greedy feeders, and like a
rich soil, improved by farm manure. In summer you can, if you choose,
give them a watering with liquid manure made by a teaspoonful of Clay’s
Fertilizer to one gallon of water.
About the end of October, when the flowers all look shabby, or have
been gathered for indoor use, your plants should be cut down to within
an inch of the ground. This helps the new growth from which you may
want to take cuttings. You must wait till the young shoots are six
inches high, and then cut them off close to the ground with a sharp
knife. The leaves must be removed from the lower half of the stalk,
and you must make a clean cut across the stalk just below a joint from
which leaves have been taken. You can put six of these cuttings in a
five-inch pot, or a large number in a wooden box; and remember that
cuttings root better close to the edge of a pot than in the middle.
They should be set two inches deep, and firmly pressed in, and the
soil should be fine and mixed with sand. The pots or boxes must then
be placed in a cool frame or greenhouse. The less you water cuttings
the better, but a sprinkle may be necessary sometimes to keep the soil
moist. In six weeks the cuttings should have rooted, and begin to make
little new leaves at the top. These may then be pricked out singly
into small pots. Do not put young plants into the open garden until
the spring frosts are over. If you have no frame or greenhouse, and
yet want to increase your Chrysanthemums, you can take them up at the
end of March, divide them with a sharp knife, and replant the pieces.
A gardener who tried this way wrote to _Gardening Illustrated_ to say
that the chrysanthemums he divided came into flower earlier and made
stronger plants than the orthodox cuttings. He took his up in February
and March, and put his pieces in a frame for a few weeks. But if you
have no frame, you had better wait till the winter frosts are over.
[Illustration: LARKSPURS AND PINKS.]
VIOLETS.
Violets will make no show in your garden, but if you have room you
will wish to have some of your own to gather. You must put out of
your head some of the things the poets say about them, and remember
that they like a rich soil, the sun in early spring, some shelter,
and plenty of light and fresh air. We have seen them belying all the
pretty traditions about their modest and retiring ways. They were
scrambling in sheets over the granite walls of a Cornish garden, and,
so far from hiding, they were showing their pretty faces to the sun,
and saying as plain as plain, ‘This is what we like. _Don’t_ stuff us
into shady dells and enclosed, sunless places.’ So now we put them
where they will have rich soil, sun and air, and the moisture they
require. A south border would be too dry for them in summer, but they
will stand a good deal of sunshine if their roots are in rich soil.
You must watch for their runners, and cut them off all through the
summer, but later in the year you should leave some for stock. In
May or June you can increase your Violets—either by taking up your
plants and pulling them carefully to pieces, when every bit with roots
will grow; or you can put some runners under a hand-light in a shady
border. If you cut off their tips, you will be able to see when they
have struck and begin to grow, and then you must tilt your hand-light
a little, so as to give ventilation. After a short time you can take
it away altogether, and by September your cuttings should be ready to
plant out. The rows should be one foot apart. The plants will soon
spread, and should be kept well weeded. All gardeners advise you to
make a fresh bed every two years. There are many beautiful varieties.
In a Cornish garden we have known the fine double kind, Marie Louise,
bloom incessantly from August, through the winter and spring, till the
hot weather came again; but this variety would need a frame in a cold
climate.
MICHAELMAS DAISIES, OR STARWORTS.
You must be sure to have some of these in your garden, because they are
easy to grow and come into flower in September, when many things are
over. They are delightful, too, for cutting, as they last well in water
and look well in any size or shape of bowl or glass. The only complaint
people ever make of them is that they increase too fast, and take up
too much room in the borders. We have had the best flowering clumps
sometimes from patches we have dug up in autumn or spring, pulled
to pieces and divided. But a clump may be left year after year, if
convenient. There is all the difference in the world between Michaelmas
Daisies grown in rich soil and good air and those grown in starved
conditions. We have seen an inexperienced gardener buy a collection
from good nurserymen, plant them in a bed of starved, poor soil on the
east side of a suburban house, and then be surprised that her Starworts
made no growth, and were not worth looking at. And, as it happened,
we saw a handful of Aster Amethystinus taken from those miserable
conditions to a sunny, sheltered garden in West Cornwall, where it was
pulled to pieces and planted in good soil all along a low granite wall
running north and south. In October a whole row of healthy plants was
looking over the wall, and sending up masses of clear mauve starry
flowers; their very colour and size improved out of knowledge by the
change. Michaelmas Daisies lose much of their beauty if they are tied
up in untidy bundles; but it is impossible to avoid tying them if they
stand in an open border where they may be caught by autumn gales. They
look very well amongst shrubs, or if you have a fence or a wall you can
put them all along it. Drive a stout stake in at either end, and tie a
strong string or length of coir rope so as to catch your Starworts at
the height that will best support them. If you must have unprotected
clumps, be sure to stake and tie them as soon as they are tall enough,
and before they flower. There are many beautiful varieties. Four of the
best are Amellus, Acris, Cordifolius, and Vimineus.
STAKING.
This is such an important operation that we must give it a paragraph
to itself. You must try from the beginning to tie up your plants when
they require it, and to do it in a workmanlike way, but you will often
find it a difficult and troublesome thing to do well. We once saw an
amusing picture in a gardening book of how not to tie up a plant, and
many a time have we remembered it after a hot and weary struggle with
our own. Some plants are more easily and successfully supported by the
branched stakes that need no ties; but heavy plants, such as Dahlias,
Sunflowers, and Michaelmas Daisies, require strong pointed sticks,
either those cut from trees or the square green ones to be bought in
towns. You should hammer your stake firmly in just _behind_ the plant.
Never drive one straight through its heart. Consider to what height
your plant will grow, and do not mind if the stake is too tall just
at first. Tie it carefully with raffia, or, if you want something
stronger, with thin cord. Roughly speaking, we should say that raffia
is strong enough for plants that can be supported by the little round
stakes sold in bundles, but that plants needing the square Dahlia
stakes also need strong ties. If you support your plants while they
are young, you must look at them from time to time, because as they
spread and grow they will want fresh ties and sometimes fresh stakes. A
spreading, top-heavy plant often needs three or four stakes to support
it properly. You will not think your trouble has been thrown away,
however, when you find that a three-days storm has not done much damage
to your garden, because your plants were so carefully prepared for it.