Evening star., 1942-10-17

ure, a perennial bed should be dug
.porated, allowing more for the hole
for each individual plant. Remem-
ber, that as in making rose bed,
you are preparing for q long time
ahead and while, as the seasons pass,
you will fertilize from the surface,
the more food at the roots in the
beginning, the better the results
will be.
So whether you are dividing and :
transplanting old, established plants
or new, potted ones, the soil
should be thoroughly and deeply
cultivated, and large holes prepared,
working in liberal quantity of bone
meal and having it SO we'll mixed as
not to be seen. A quart to a large
hole, such as you would dig for
delphinium, is not too much. -
Plan your bed on paper, allowing
sufficient space for the plants to
spread without crowding. Perennials
make much better show If planted
forward of a wall or shrubbery, in
which case a bed 6 feet in width
would give space enough to tie in
with the background and yet allow :;
for the plants to be spaced without
crowding.
Fine Mass Effects
Desirable.
In planning. be very sure to select
blooming perennials that give both
height and fine mass effects for the
background, such as baptisia and
thermopsis and for this same pur-
pose in the autumn, the large, i'm
proved family of hardy asters, hele-
mum, boltonia and chrysanthe-
NUNS. Except for the daintier va
rieties of the latter. especially the
Koreans, they would all serve best
as background for the picture.
The mention of baptisia empha-
sizes one of the loveliest and most
useful of the spring perennials.
Violet blue in color, the long sprays
of pea like bloom so closely resemble
the lupine as to be mistaken for it
when cut. 1t has all the beauty of
the lupine with none of its capri
ciousness. The plant grows to be
large, from to 5 feet. 1t likes
bone meal and deep cultivation for
it's large root system and it must
have good drainage. Given this care
it repays with luxuriant bloom and
good health.
The hybrid hardy asters, glorifled
types of the Michaelmas Daisy Of
old gardens, have grown larger and !
larger as to bloom, in blues and
violets, deep and pale pinks, and
splendid white one, Mount Everest,
that brings out every gleam of the
surrounding rich, autumn tones.
The hardy asters have very large
root systems AND insist upon we'll
prepared deep holes. If some WELL
rotted COW manure is put at the
bottom of the hole and covered
with 4 or inches of soil, the result
will be truly splendid bloom. -.
The Canterbury Bells will also
repay amply this additional bit Of
food in their holes.
Don't Forget
Phlor.
The perennial border should have
a wealth of phlox and no matter
how you revel in the gorgeousness
of it's colors, don't fail to have great
masses of white, Miss Lingard, to,
bloom early; old reliable Mrs. Jen-
kins. and stunning, new Mary
Louise with her great cool trusses
in July.
There is much difference of opin-
ion as to the best time to transplant
phlox. If you have done it in the
fall and succeeded there is no reason
to change your procedure. But
much experience indicates spring as
the best time for dividing the
clumps. Cut them down in the au-
tumn and work in a feeding of bone
meal. Then in the spring when the
first leaves appear divide and reset
and put on your first Bordeaux
spray.
Phlox particularly resents bad
drainage and if you can provide your
planting with little elevation it
will be safer and more productive.
You will want some Oriental pop
pies for their wonderful show and
in buying it is best to conhne your
selections to the named varieties if
you want to avoid the flaming scar
lets and oranges which are too fam
boyant for the mixed border. Here
again you will find the composition
pots blessing, as with their use you
can put in your poppies at your own
convenience instead of those arbi-
trary two weeks in August.
The new varieties in white and
delicate pinks are exquisite and they
will bloom when the flax is bringing
its ethereal blue to the garden pic
ture.
Well planted and established be-
fore the cold weather, the perennial
bed will require only the minimum
OF protection. Never cover the
plants. Those that grow from
crowns such as Canterbury Bells and
fox gloves will almost surely die if
you do, The good earth drawn IN
close around them and some ever
green branches placed loosely over
them will give all the protection
fhoy pool