LADY BUG...PERENNIALS OFFER COLOR, CONTRAST

A perennial, in the broadest horticultural definition, is any plant that lives for three years or more. This definition covers a lot of ground, including dandelions and giant trees. However, when gardeners talk about perennials, they almost always are referring to plants with stems that die down to the soil before winter while their roots remain alive and ready to send up new growth next spring.

Perennials flower abundantly and multiply without being coaxed. Most of them are easily grown. They appear at the time when the tulips and daffodils have faded and summer annuals are still getting a start. This is when the bushy peonies, the stately iris and the flashy poppies rise to put on their show.

A most frequently asked question is the difference in perennials, biennials and annuals.

Perennials are usually bought by gardeners as young plants rather than the gardener trying to grow them from seed. The seeds often take quite awhile to germinate, and like all seeds now have become quite expensive. An already started perennials will grow to maturity and flower the first year. It should live for many years with proper care and division.

Annuals, by contrast live for a single garden season. They sprout from seed, bloom, bear more seed with which to reproduce and then die. Within the span of a few months, they go from a tiny sprout to mature plants and often set seeds furiously, then die before or at the time of a killing frost. Gardeners depend upon such annuals as petunias, begonias, geraniums, marigolds, zinnias, cosmos, celosia, calandula, lisianthus, larkspur, asters and many others, for quick color in the garden.

Biennials also sprout from seed, but spend their first year growing. They then flower their second year, also producing seed, and then die. They include foxglove, Canterbury bells, sweet Williams and hollyhocks. Remember in selecting biennials that they operate on a two-year plan.

It used to be that our grandmothers planted perennials in wide borders, often around the vegetable garden, or planted them as the English do, close to their home. Today perennials are used in the landscape, often incorporated among the evergreen plantings where they may be accented by the dark shades of the evergreens.

Every perennial has its following, but in the world of the specialized garden, there are four favorites which stand out--iris, peony, daylily and chrysanthemum.

The ancient Greeks, dazzled by its colors, named the iris, "the eye of heaven," which also was the name for their rainbow. Today the multihued iris continue to fascinate gardeners everywhere with its more than 30,000 varieties that do, indeed, match every shade of the rainbow except green. There are some 700 varieties introduced each year. Our own O.D. Niswonger, 822 Rodney Vista Blvd., has made introductions each year for many and his iris are known in many other countries. His garden, at his residence, shows many of his new introductions.

Mrs. Nada Nagel and her daughter, Janet, 1926 N. Kingshighway, has a large colorful display of iris, interspersed with brilliant orange Oriental poppies. At the A.M. Spradling residence, 225 Keller, these poppies are blooming with purple perennial salvia (sage) a delightful combination.

The list of perennials is quite long. Here are just a few of the most dependable ones that will bloom in the shade--astilbe, bleeding heart, forget-me-not (anchusa), Christmas or Lenten rose, primrose, the many varieties of hostas, and all of the ferns.

Sun lover perennials include--baby's breath, basket of gold, beebalm or monarda, bellflower (campanula, evergreen candytuft, coral bells, daisies, feverfew, hibiscus, lythrum or purple loosestrife, phlox, columbine, rudbeckia, sweet William, veronica, yarrow, and torch plant.

Most perennials, like other garden flowers, can be grown in movable containers.

Many gardeners now are taking to heart the words attributed to a monk who lived 1000 years ago, "Stooping is the worst thing for the aging gardener, and how can one escape the backacke except by raising beds?" This, is probably the reason we are seeing more and more raised beds made with railroad ties, some raised a few feet above the lawn where perennials and annuals grow. Because it drains faster, such a bed has to be watered more often.

Perennials can be depended upon to give color and contrast to the garden.

---

There are literally thousands of large open flowers on an enormously tall, 100-year-old Yellow Poplar Tulip tree, towering three times the height of the residence of Mrs. Iris Zelle, 524 Washington.

Mrs. Zelle, who has resided there since 1959, said the residence at one time was the farm home of the late Henry Huhn and the abstract was dated 1875. Mr. Huhn's daughter-in-law is Mrs. Henry A. Huhn, who resides at 604 N. Sprigg.

The Yellow Poplar is an ornamental as well as a timber tree, which grows as high as 150 feet, and is known to be the tallest deciduous tree grown in the United States.

This tree at the Zelle residence has been confirmed to be well over 100 years old by representatives of the Conservation Department.

The flowers, which appear long after the leaves, are greenish yellow in color, large and solitary, with three spreading sepals and six erect petals tinged with orange at the base. Poplar trees do not flower until they are about 15 years old.

There are two old-fashioned pink wild roses, which were there when she came, adding charm to her home. She loves all of the big tree, and the birds they offer homes for at her place.