![]() Usually where staking is necessary, it is not the fault of the plants but of the conditions under which they are grown. It is a vicious circle and is the major cause of untidiness and the need for staking in congested borders, or those backed by tall trees, shrubs, hedges, fences or walls. Plants in close competition for light and air become excessively tall and spindly. Plants need light and air and overcrowding and overhanging by trees or other taller growth, which reduce these inevitably leads to stem weakness. ![]() The problem of overcrowding is linked to this. It would also be a mistake to plant something rank or invasive near something that is by nature of slow or lowly growth. Most perennials are adaptable to ordinary garden conditions, but it would be as much a mistake to plant something which naturally prefers shade or moist soil into a dry open situation as it would the other way round. A species which for millions of years has been accustomed to certain conditions of soil, moisture, sun or shade can scarcely be expected to flourish so well where its natural preferences are lacking. An original type may have been improved upon by breeding and hybridization, but the varieties or cultivars retain their main parental characteristics, including those of adaptability. The majority of garden plants have their origin somewhere in the wild. Adaptability This calls for a fair-minded approach when one considers that nature herself has set the limitations. Harmful competition between the ranker and the less vigorous kinds, and indiscriminate selection and planting almost invariably lead to trouble. All this accentuated the main disabilities to which perennials are prone if not given a fair chance -difficulty of access to the plants and the need for supports. Quite often such borders were too narrow in relation to the height of the plants. The plants suffered from overcrowding, weak growth and excessive competition for light and air. The conventional herbaceous border was largely at fault because of its long narrow shape with a backing wall, hedge or fence. One reason was because post-war demands for labor saving forced a swing to shrubs. The time is happily past when hardy perennials were relegated in so many gardens because the rewards they gave were disproportionate to the trouble entailed. Delphiniums, phlox and many others have this habit but several, including iris and kniphofia do not, because they retain winter foliage. Strictly speaking, the word ‘herbaceous’ denotes the decay of each season’s growth, with the plant itself remaining alive, but dormant. `Herbaceous plants’, ‘hardy perennials’, `border plants’ are all inadequate or inaccurate in some respect. No single word or term has yet been accepted to cover garden plants, as distinct from bulbs and shrubs, which flower year after year.
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