Planting Perennials

Source: What Shall We Do Now?: Five Hundred Games And Pastimes
Category: GARDENING



The best months for planting perennials are November, February, and
March. Dig a hole large enough to take the roots when well spread out,
hold your plant in position, with the junction of stem and root just
below the level of the earth, and fill in gently with fine soil,
pressing it down firmly all round the plant, and if there is danger of
frost protect the plants with straw, bracken, or a mulching of manure.
Never water if there is any likelihood of frost.

Here follow some general remarks concerning the treatment of
perennials through the spring, summer, and autumn:--


Slugs

In the spring, slugs, which eat the tender new leaves of many plants,
can be kept away by sprinkling coal-ash around them.


Watering

In hot weather, water perennials regularly and well, breaking up earth
around them so that the water sinks in easily.


Supports

All tall-growing perennials will need stakes to support them. Care
must be taken not to injure the roots when putting these in. The
stalks can be tied with twine.


Dividing

Perennials can be divided if they grow too large. With
summer-flowering plants this should be done in October or November,
and with spring-flowering plants in June. In dividing you simply dig
up the plant and break off as much of it as you want, being careful
not to injure the roots. As, however, there are many plants which, to
be divided, must be cut, and as this is an operation which requires
some skill and knowledge, it would perhaps be better to take advice.


Perennials From Seed

Snapdragon, wallflower, pansies, and hollyhocks are very easily grown
from seed. They can be sown in June (wallflowers are best sown in
April) in boxes, and thinned out and transplanted to permanent places
as soon as they are large enough. They will blossom the following
year.


Seedlings

Seedlings of most perennials can be bought for a few cents a dozen.
They should be planted as quickly as possible and watered well, and
they will flower the following year.

Consult a good nurseryman's catalogue for a list of hardy perennials,
as for the annuals.


Bulbs--General Remarks

A garden that is planted only with bulbs, or with bulbs and a few
ferns, can be kept beautiful all the year round. Many of our loveliest
flowers come from bulbs, and they are easy to grow and interesting to
watch from the moment that the first leaf-tips push through the earth
until they die down. The position of all bulbs should be very
carefully marked on the beds and in your garden-plan, so that you will
not cut or injure them when digging your garden over.

The first bulbs to come--through the snow sometimes--are the
snowdrops, single and double, crocuses--yellow, purple, lilac, and
striped--and then the tiny bright blue squills; and a little later the
yellow daffodil and white narcissus, hyacinths, and tulips of every
kind. Then white, red, and purple anemones, ranunculi, and wax-like
Stars of Bethlehem. In June there are wonderful irises and tall spikes
of summer-flowering gladiolus--red and white--and later still the tall
garden lilies. There are many of these lilies, and all of them are
exceedingly beautiful. Two kinds should be in all gardens--the white
Madonna lily, and the orange tiger lily. All the bulbs that have been
mentioned cost very little and can be grown very simply. And all bulbs
that have been mentioned can remain untouched for many years unless
they exhaust the soil around them (when, instead of increasing as they
should each year, the plants become poorer and smaller).

Never move a bulb when it is in active growth: after the leaves have
died down is the right time.

Leaf-mould mixed with your garden soil will help to give you fine
flowers.

If the leaves of the bulbs are attacked by slugs, as they often are,
sprinkle a little wood-ash all around them.


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