THE HARDY GARDEN
Is a permanent investment, possible only in the permanent home. It adds
dignity and charm attainable from no other form of planting. It is to
the outdoor life of the home what the possession of colonial furniture
and family heirlooms is to the indoor life, and yet is neither
expensive nor tedious in its inception. It may be acquired fully grown,
as it were, by an order to the florist for ready grown plants of
blossoming size, ready to give seasonal bloom, or it may be developed
in a few months, inexpensively and most interestingly, by procuring
the seeds of as many desirable varieties of hardy perennials as one
has room or inclination for and planting them in the hotbed in early
spring, and transplanting into permanent positions when large enough
or, better still, by planting the seed in cold frames in August or
early September and growing them on until cold weather when they should
be protected for the winter and in the spring planted out where they
are to bloom. Every hardy perennial set out in one's garden is an asset
that will increase in value each succeeding year. Many have the root
formation that admits of divisions—as the Shasta daisy, a single two
year old clump usually dividing up into from six to ten blooming-size
plants. English violets, English daisies, polyanthus, and many other
plants may be divided annually until in time one owns large colonies
of them, and this is a point well worth understanding,—that a large
number of one kind of plant is much more effective and worth while than
a large number of _kinds_ of plants, of just one or a few individuals.
Many plants which are inconspicuous or ineffective singly or in small
groups, surprise one with their beauty when grown in large masses or
long rows. The ulmaria—a variety of spiræa of deciduous growth—is a
notable example of this. Planted singly it is merely a rather pretty
flower; grown in a long row it is a mass of snowy white in late June
and July that compels one with its beauty. Its congener, the spiræa
fillipendula, a lesser but most graceful growth, also pleases one
especially when grown in long rows in front of taller plants. And right
here is a point well worth considering in planting a hardy border—the
arranging of plants in rising tiers of bloom so that a bank of bloom
may be produced. One effective bed that gladdened my heart for several
seasons and rose in tier after tier of gracious bloom through several
weeks of early summer had an initial planting next the front of
tritomas, whose scarlet torches of flame did not come into bloom until
late summer, but from then until frost made a brilliant band of color.
Back of these was a fine planting of columbine, next a row of scarlet
lychnis alternated with white feverfew, and still further back a full
planting of the garden spiræa whose feathery heads of pinky-white
flowers stood four or five feet high and in turn were topped with fine
clumps of physostegias; the whole planting making a beautiful bank
of bloom and one not commonly seen. This was a permanent planting
requiring little care beyond the removal of all weeds and grass in the
spring and an occasional thinning out of the plants when they became
too crowded. The physostegia increases rapidly by root division and the
lychnis, feverfew and aquilegias all self-sow so the bed practically
never ran out or needed renewing and the cost, except for the tritomas,
was that of a few packets of seeds—probably a total of fifty cents for
some one hundred and fifty square feet of loveliness, and there are
many, many combinations as happy and as easily acquired as that.
Lacking the convenience of hotbeds and cold frames, the vegetable
garden is a most excellent place in which to start hardy perennials for
a permanent garden. Flowers planted in rows among vegetables always
seem to do better than anywhere else, the reason being that they are
not crowded—usually being in single rows with a foot or more of open
space at each side through which the hoe and cultivator can work
freely, and where they will receive regular and constant attention
throughout the growing season. In a garden of say fifty feet in width,
several varieties of flowers may be grown in short lengths of ten feet
or more. They should be covered somewhat more deeply than when sown
in the hotbed or cold frame and the ground firmed well above them,
especially if the weather is dry at the time of planting; when the
seedlings appear they will probably need thinning in order that they
may not grow spindling, but will not need the room they will require
when in permanent quarters. Many kinds of hardy perennials will give
some bloom the first year, though, of course, they will not be at their
best, but they will be sufficiently pronounced to make it possible to
select those most desirable for cultivation. Delphiniums, for instance,
will give small spikes of bloom, probably a foot high, the first season
and if the Gold Medal Hybrids have been planted some very lovely blooms
will result. In the fall the plants may be lifted and set in permanent
positions, or they may be left in the ground until spring and then
transplanted; probably this is the better treatment providing the
ground is not to be ploughed too early, as some of the perennials die
down in the fall and may not appear above the ground in time for very
early transplanting.
Evergreen boughs make the best winter covering, especially when rested
against some support with the tips downward, so as to shed rain. They
do not mat down into a sodden mass as do leaves which have a tendency
to smother and rot plants with an evergreen crown of leaves, but
protect from sun and cold winds, at the same time admitting sufficient
air to the plants to keep them in good condition.
When immediate effect is desired from hardy perennials which must
be produced from seed, considerable time may be gained by planting
the seeds in flats in the house in early February, giving them as
light a position as possible, a south window being preferable, and
transplanting the little seedlings to the hotbed when that is started
in March or early April. This will often force along the blooms and
will certainly produce strong, well developed plants by fall, plants
that should stand the winter and come out in spring in fine condition,
ready for a notable season of bloom.
While hardy perennials are generally thought of in connection with such
herbaceous plants as die down to the ground in fall, reappearing again
in spring, and the few that make a crown of winter foliage, like the
hollyhocks and delphiniums, no perennial garden could be considered
complete without an abundance of lilies. These may be planted here
and there, singly and in groups among the perennials and shrubbery
and will need little attention, increasing in numbers year by year.
This is especially true of the candidum or annunciation lily, which
once planted continues to increase for many years, but should have the
clumps broken up once in three or four years and spread out to give
more room. Failure to bloom successfully always calls for investigation
of the condition of the bulbs. Usually it will be found that decay
has set in or that worms or ants have invaded the bulbs. In either
case the bulbs should be lifted and cleaned and all diseased scales
removed, saving the scales for replanting; reset in clean soil, packing
a handful of clean, sharp sand and a pinch of charcoal about each bulb.
Candidum lilies should not be set more than an inch or two below the
surface of the ground, but most other lilies, especially the auratums,
speciosums, Brownii, and giganteums should be planted six or more
inches deep and well padded with sand. A little pad of sphagnum moss
under each bulb is excellent as it supplies the necessary drainage.
Auratum bulbs and bulbs of the Japanese lilies are not as permanent
as the candidums and tiger lilies, usually lasting a maximum of five
years, if left undisturbed.
It is not much use to plant lily bulbs, tulips and hyacinths in ground
infested with moles. The moles should first be eradicated, and then
bulbs may be planted safely but it is little satisfaction to make an
extensive and costly planting of bulbs only to have them become food
for the moles and ground mice. I have known plantings of several
hundred tulips to be entirely destroyed during a single winter. In one
such planting of five hundred bulbs only three appeared above ground
the following year. A good mole trap is invaluable where moles are in
evidence.