Perennial Gardening

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PERENNIALS AMONG THE SHRUBS
Although the various ornamental shrubs used in our landscape plantings produce flowers or decorative fruits at various times of the season, we may desire a greater amount of bloom. Perennial or annual flowers, the advantage of perennials, may supply this being that they are more or less permanent. Some of them, such as the lilies and plumepoppy, have the added advantage of coming up between the lower-growing shrubs and blooming above them. Others may be used as masses of color in front of the lower shrubs or in a bay or indentation in front of the taller ones.

In this way the shrub border, the foundation planting around the house, the screen planting around the garage or between different parts of the garden may be given additional color. You may even have the earliest-blooming flowers such as the Virginia bluebell bloom before the shrubs are in leaf. Here also may be planted crocus, squills, snowdrops, and grape hyacinth.

Some folks like to have a few select combinations of flowers in front of their shrubs, a few choice groupings that strike their fancy. This is a fine place for such color combinations, since they show off to advantage. Possibly you may try delphinium and coreopsis. Delphinium and Shasta daisy, delphinium and madonna lilies, foxglove and pink sweet-william, or similar groups. Remember, however, that occasionally, in an off season, your combinations will not bloom together, or your pink Oriental poppy, which you purchased from a peddler, may turn out to be a brick red. This happens to the best of gardens and merely calls for a spade and the ensuing transplanting.

Some of the taller perennials to use between shrubs that are not too crowded are heliopsis, lythrum, plumepoppy, hardy aster, tall varieties of oriental poppies such as Lula Neeley and Wurttembergia, false-dragonhead, joe-pye-weed, sunflowers, especially Heliantlius orgyalis and H. maximilianus, golden glow, and the giant coneflower, Rudbeckia maxima.

Among lower shrubs, phlox, purple coneflower, columbine, hardy chrysanthemum, baptisia, cassia, coreopsis, Shasta daisy, and others may be used.

Despite the wealth of bloom produced by annual flowers, there are certain times of the year, as spring and late fall, when they do not produce results. These times call for perennials. In addition to this seasonal necessity, certain colors and certain landscape effects can be obtained only with perennials. What annuals can give the effect of hard y delphinium, phlox, columbine, iris, monkshood, hardy chrysanthemum, or the mass of early-flowering rock plants? And so we find the ideal combination for all-season effect is the mixed border of annuals and perennials. Many gardeners even grow their annuals separately and transplant them when in bloom into gaps in the perennial border after the flowers and foliage of such plants as oriental poppies, bleeding heart, and mertensia have disappeared.

For fences we may use the old-fashioned hardy pea, Lathyrus latifolius, or the dainty Allegheny vine, Adlumia fungosa. For trellis and arbor there are cinnamon vine (Dioscorea batatos) and the kudzu vine (Pueraria). Occasionally the hop vine, either the green or the golden, is recommended, but once established it is likely to become a serious pest. But it does grow most luxuriantly. The Allegheny vine with its dainty airy foliage and pale pink flowers may be used to climb among the other vines for summer bloom. Even roses will not be smothered by ft. All of these vines require a support of some sort, either a fence or string or wire.

If you are like the author and object to pushing a lawn mower up and down a terrace or bank you will soon replace the grass turf with trailing perennials, many of which are evergreen. One such bank near Cleveland, has been covered with red flowered thyme for nearly twenty-five years. Each year after blooming it is sheared back. If such a slope were steep it may be necessary to mulch it with straw to keep it from washing until the plants become established. The more rapid-growing ones soon root and spread. If the soil were poor, quicker results will be obtained if it is well fertilized or possibly the upper three inches replaced with good soil.

EVERGREEN PERENNIALS FOR BANKS AND TERRACES

Cerastium tomentosum Arabis alpina *Arabis procurrens *Thymus serpyllum *Vinca minor *Dianthus deltoides Dianthus plumarius Alyssum saxatile Phlox subulata *Sedum sexangulare *Sedum. acre *Sedum album *Sedum ternaturn *Sedum reflextun Thymus *Veronica rupestris Iberis sempervirens Iberis gibraltarica *Pachysandra *Root as they grow

Snow-in-summer Alpine rockcress Rockcress Mother-of -thyme Periwinkle Maiden pink Grass pink Goldentuft Moss pink Hexagon stonecrop Goldmoss stonecrop White stonecrop Mountain stonecrop Jenny stonecrop Thyme Rock speedwell Evergreen candytuft Gibraltar candytuft Japanese spurge

TRAILING PERENNIALS, NOT EVERGREEN

Ajuga Gypsophila repens Saponaria ocymoides Veronica pectinata, Euphorbia myrsinites Callirhoe Nepeta mussini Sedum. sarmentosum. Duchesnia indica Coronilla varia Helianthemurn Crucianella Lysimachia mummularia Tunica saxifraga Sedum ellacombianum Sedum hybridum Sedum spurium

Bugle Creeping babysbreath Rock soapwort Comb speedwell Spurge Poppy-mallow Mussini mint Stringy stonecrop Mock-strawberry Crownvetch Sunrose Crosswort Loosestrife Coatflower Stonecrop Stonecrop Running stonecrop

Over walls.
Since none of the perennials will grow up the face of a wall as does English ivy or Euonymus radicans (winter creeper), we must plant them above and allow them to hang down to -soften - the effect of the wall, whether it be stone, brick, or concrete. For this purpose we may use any of the following:

Arabis procurrens Aubrieta Callirhoe involucrata Campanula carpatica Cerastium tomentosum Dianthus deltoides Euphorbia myrsinites Gypsophila repens Opuntia Phlox subulata Potentilla multifida Saponaria ocymoides Sedum sarmentosum Thymus serpyllum

Rockcress Aubrietia Poppy-mallow Carpathian bellflower Snow-in-summer Maiden pink Spurge Creeping babysbreath Prickly pear Moss phlox Cinquefoil Soapwort Stringy stonecrop Thyme

Flowers for shady places
All too often the failure to grow flowers successfully in shade is blamed upon the soil. To be sure, it is probably lacking in moisture and fertility if trees cause the shade. But this may be corrected by the addition of a complete fertilizer as discussed in the chapter on soils and fertilizers. Most failures are due, however, to the fact that sundemanding plants are being grown rather than shade-enduring ones. Here we may take a hint from our woods and use our native woodland plants or those from the woodlands of other countries.

If the shade is dense we may use the following:

Actaea alba Aegopodiurn podograria Cimicifuga racemosa Convallaria majalis Dicentra eximia Dicentra cucullaria Hosta Martensia Phlox divaricata Trillium

White baneberry Goutweed Cohosh bugbane Lily-of-the-valley Fringed bleedingheart Dutchmans-breeches Plantainlily Virginia bluebell Blue phlox Trillium

Or we may use any of our native ferns.

If the shade be only partial, then in addition to the above list we may use the following:

Aconitum Aquilegia. Chelone lyoni Corydalis Digitalis Echinacea purpurea Eupatorium urticaefolium Geranium maculaturn Helleborus niger Helleborus orientale Hesperis Lysimachia clethroides Muscari Narcissus Phlox Primula Thalictrum Viola

Monkshood Columbine Pink turtlehead Corydalis Foxglove Hedgehog-coneflower White snakeroot Wild geranium Christmas-rose Christmas-rose Sweet rocket Gooseneck moneywort Grape-hyacinth Narcissus Phlox Primrose Meadowrue Violets and tufted pansies

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