The Daily Missoulian., 1913-05-11
TnE OLO
FLOWERS
BY MRS. MccUNE.

an eye to their permanent beauty;
they lived in one place all thier lives
and the gardens grew and enlarged
with the home; so grandmother put
in perennials, knowing that If she did
not see the blooms the first year the
garden would be all the more beauti-
ful the next. Percnnials once put into
| the ground will thrive indefinitely and
| in grandmother's age there was not
time to replant the garden every
spring; flowers once put in must re-
| main hardy and blooming year after
year.
II YOU are a lover OF the old-time
ways why not make your garden a.
| copy of the one grandmother planned?
And II you have not space for the
gravclled walks nor the patience to
| wait for the box hedges to grow To
! reasonable size you can flll your
| flower space with the old-time favor
ties. Grandmother planted columbine
and bleeding hearts for her first
| blooms, massing sweet williams in
| long beds OF pink and white flowers,
| With peOnies, the huge double ones,
| scattered in the beds. She was care
| ful 70 cover these plants ia the fall
| with manure and did not disturb them
| In tie spring, as they start SO early
| In the year that there Is danger Of
! breaking off the tender shoots.
The wonderful Oriental poppy is Z
| perennial that blooms early and It
must surely have space In the old
fashioned garden. Tall hollyhocks
grew against grandmothcr's walls and
| filled the sunny corners where no
| delicate flowers were desired, for the
| hcllyhock grows go luXuriously that
| II Is apt to Over-run the smaller
plants II not carefully watched Pinks,
GOO, filled the garden with their spicy
odor and the phloX was not neglected.
These plants will live for years with
hardly any attention, though 1t is best
to give them heavy top dressing Of
manure every yenr, and by lifting the
plants every third year and digging
In large quantity OF manure you viii
Improve the size and quantity OF the
blossoms. Perhaps grandmother Will
hardly recognize the beautiful newer
! varieties of phloX which have been
lately developed, the large clusters OF
dark crimson, fiery scarlet or tho
TO her, but II ID the same hardy plant
blooming from July till frost that was
her standby.
j 1t is well In planting the flowers to
make a careful selection SO that you
may have IL succession OF bloom and
50 that tho colors OF the flowers shall
not clash with each other or with the
house. Be careful not to put the ma
genta flowers against the pink ones
for example. or TO have on the porch
climbing roses that will not harmon
ize with the red OF the roof. No old
81 Oa RI w m al nj In
1t boasted great showing OF blue
larkspur, or delphiniums, az the seeds
man would say. Blue larkspur. cam.
panulas or bell flowers, the aconitums
or monkshoods, and the platycodons
will make beautiful combination OF
blue and white for the hot days Of
July and August when ono wishes the
garden to appear cool and It 10 best
to have the yellows and reds out Of
sight,
Later on the tritoma or "red-hot
poker plant will fill the garden with
glow: then come the chrysanthe-
NUNS, not the huge hothouso blooms,
but the hardy flowers Of yellow. white
| ana rusty pink which Will keep the
/ garden gay almost till Thanksgiving
Day In the spring AZ soon 40 the
plants begin to aprout, ask your farm
er friends for a few roots, for they
. will divide them and you can ret out
three or four shoots together In very
rich soil. About the first Of July and
again In September dig couple of
trowelfuls OF manure carefully about
the roots and pinch back any buds.
which form before September. "
How did grandmother start her pses
ennial beds you ask? In those frugal
days she certainly did not purchase
plants OF each variety to make her be-
. ginning. Indeed no; she grew the lit
tie seedlings herself In bed especial
ly prepared for them. 1t will soon be
warm enough for you to do the same.
The second week In April is not too
early to put the perennial seeds In
the ground, but the soil must be pre-
pared first; be sure that 1t Ia rich and
finely pulverized. The seeds of per-
ennials may be soaked for "a houres
, before planting to insure termination:
|, when ready for planting, pour Oh the
.. water and mix the wet seed with very
, dry earth and SOW them, not too close
together. Cover them lightly, about
half an inch 10 enough for the large
seeds while tho very small varieties
need simply to have the earth sprin-
. carefully and wait: 1t Will not be long
before hundreds OF tiny plants will
have sprung up and with little care
;, they will be ready to put into their
: permanent beds in September. Phloxes.
rudbeckias. monkshood. valerian, tri-
tomas, iris and veronica are best not
raised from seed, but by buying the
plants, and then AFTER slime dividing
them. For instance, take a 6n6 large
: plant Of phlox OF some choice variety,
. divide all the roots and set out each
!. one separately; from one plant you
may. in two years time get 20 splen-
did ones, and so you may do with the
, other varieties.
Iris grows from root and will In
crease rapidly: both the German and
j Japanese varieties do we'll; whom nat
J uraltzed In the grass at the e1d of
: four years the original plants may oo
II tnvvAM ;ann nj ~ Int