MIXED BORDER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 August 1940, Page 3

MIXED BORDER

SOME USEFUL HINTS. A herbaceous plant is one- which makes a flower stem and leaves and dies down to a rootstock underground stem bulb or tuber in the winter. It never forms real woody tissue, which distinguishes it from a tree or a shrub. There are three more or less distinct types of herbaceous plants—perennials which come up year after year, like delphiniums and Michaelmas daisies; biennials, which make their growth one year and flower the iiexc. like Canterbury Beils; and annuals, which make their growth, flower and ripen their seeds in one season. j hough a herbaceous border should consist mainly of perennials, a certain number of biennials or annuals. treated as such, should be included and be planted to provide early (lowers, and a number of annuals 3 should be sown to take the place of spring-flowering bulbs and other plants such as wallflowers when they are over. In the meantime, wo arc concerned mainly with perennials, and. as there arc now so many improved kinds and such, a variety, a good border could be planted with them alone, and. as they are perfectly hardy and come up year after year, requiring little attention beyond replanting occasionally, thinning out a bit in the spring and staking during the summer, they are suitable for both large and small, gardens. The width of the border will depend on tb.e extent of the garden, but from six to nine feet would be suitable for grouping, and. of course, there ought to bo a background, either shrubbery, fence or hedge. The site should be trenched to a depth of two feet and ahali, and a quantity of farmyard manure or compost heap placed on top of the bottom spit. It is also an advantage to dig in some well-rotted manure, or. failing that, bone dust in the top spit, for many perennials are surface-root-ers. When planting. it is desirable to place the plants in groups of three or more, according to the height to which they grow and their decorative value. Though the taller ones should be grouped at the back of the border and the dwarfer ones in the front, it would not be desirable to have them in an oven slope from the froirt to the back. Here and there the taller kinds should come to near the front and likewise in places the dwarfer kinds should go near the back. In every ease consideration should be given to the colours, care being taken to prevent those which clash being together and care should also be taken to have those with flower heads like the various members of the daisy family, interplanted with those with spikes like delphiniums, etc. It is a good idea to prepare a plan showing the position of each kind to mark out the position they are to occupy. and to lay out three or four yards of the border at a time. This will ensure that the plants are evenly spaced and that they are in informal groups and not. in straight, linos. Planting should be done with a spade and the roots of each plant should be carefully spread out in the holes which have been made for them. A little soil should be worked in carefully among the roots, and finally the hole should be tilled in and made quite firm. A good stout label should be placed at each group, for it is an advantage to know the names of each kind and the positions they Established borders should be lilted, trenched, manured and replanted every five years, the only exceptions being pcconics and oriental poppies, which are better left undisturbed. It will be advisable, however to manure and dig over the border in spring, as soon as growth commences, and to divide up the more rampant growers, such as Michaelmas daisies, replanting back a piece from the outside of the clump.